


Voltron: Defender of Legend

by Ohshitmyship



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Multi, Voltron Rewrite, voltron crashed and burned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 79,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27365500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohshitmyship/pseuds/Ohshitmyship
Summary: Fate brought together five unique souls to save the universe and their story...crashed and burned.I don't have to rehash it for you – we were all there, we all suffered when we watched the finale. But last night, I had an idea – to re-write Voltron in its entirety, to make it better, to give all of the characters the development they deserve, the story the plot it needs, and jokes that don't revolve around Hunk's love of food.Basically, I'm writing the Voltron that I wish we had the chance to experience because I still love the characters and first 3 seasons.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 125





	1. Kerberos (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all!!!! Alright so this is sort of a preview!! I'm excited about this and have a ton of notes about it so far lol, so I wanna see where I can go with this. I mean, can't be any worse than the original, right?
> 
> So the deal with this fic goes the same with all of my other fics: I will post a chapter first on Patreon (ohsh!tmyship) and then post it here a week later. 
> 
> Anyways, let me know what y'all think! Happy reading:)

Three humans set foot on Kerberos – the last of Pluto’s moon, the furthest extension of their solar system – for the first time in history.

“One small step for man...one giant leap, for mankind,” Commander Samuel Holt said cheerfully as he stepped off of their ship onto the rocky ground.

“C’mon, Dad,” Science Officer Matthew Holt said with a laugh as he followed his father, “You don’t need to be so grandiose about it – it’s not like there are any cameras.”

“Right, but they’ll surely take our recordings and give them to the public!” Sam argued, “I thought it would be nice to do a little callback to the first time man landed on the moon. Well,  _ our  _ moon.”

“I think it’s great,” Exploration Pilot Takashi Shirogane said with a chuckle, “Now let’s get this stuff set up so we can give the public something interesting.”

In no time at all, the three men began setting up a testing site, their machine drilling deep into the ice to collect samples. For  _ what  _ exactly was a long list, and Shiro didn’t entirely know, in all honesty. What he  _ did  _ know was that this was a huge occasion, and he was happy to help.

“Can you believe this?” Sam asked eagerly as the ice was slowly lifted, “This ice could hold an incredible amount of information – we could learn more about the age of the universe, more about how our solar system was formed!”

“The information in this ice could lead to first contact with extraterrestrials!” Matt agreed eagerly.

“Man, you guys are way more excited about ice samples than I am,” Shiro joked as the sample slowly slid out into Matt’s waiting hands.

Just then, there came a deep rumbling and Shiro looked up, his heart dropping into his feet as a giant airship appeared in the sky above them.

Honestly, Shiro couldn’t really take in what he was looking at. It was definitely a battleship, or at least looked like it, and it glowed purple. He had no idea what it was, but as he saw the front of the massive ship light up, he knew it couldn’t be good.

“Run.” He said, then his brain kicked into overdrive and he grabbed Matt’s arm, “Run!”

The three of them abandoned the test site and hurried toward their ship. It would take far too long for them to even be  _ ready  _ to take off, but that didn’t matter. Well, it did, but the three men were so focused on running, on  _ getting away _ that they didn’t even think about the launch process. As Shiro urged the men on, to run  _ faster,  _ he just knew he had to make it to the ship. They would just figure it out from there.

But they never made it there. The three men suddenly found themselves surrounded in a strange purple light, then they were lifted off the ground. They yelled, each of their limbs flailing as they tried to get back down to solid rock. But it was no use – the tractor beam had them trapped and nothing could free them. 

Shiro just felt his heart pounding harder and harder as they rose above the ground, and he was suddenly filled with a cold dread. He couldn't help it – he passed out.

* * *

When Shiro woke up again, he felt like he was dreaming.

He was inside the ship, surrounded by dark metal and glowing purple. There was...a figure in front of him, talking to a purple video screen. He wasn’t sure if it was the lighting or not, but the figure was inhumanly tall, with large ears, a horn ridge on their head and...well, purple skin. He spoke in a harsh language that Shiro didn’t understand, but he figured they were talking about him and his crew.

Shiro glanced over and saw Matt and Sam kneeling, the same position as him. They all still had their helmets on, and in the dark light of the ship, he couldn’t see if they were awake or not.

“Please!” Shiro called out, catching the alien’s attention, “We mean no harm! We come in peace, we’re just scientists, we’re unarmed!”

The alien in front of him just nodded, and a guard behind Shiro hit him, knocking him out again.

* * *

When he came to the second time, he was being dragged through the halls by an armored guard. He blinked, trying to get a handle on his surroundings, but it felt so strange, so out of place. It was almost impossible to even believe it was  _ real _ , how could it feel real, to be kidnapped by aliens?

As he was dragged, they passed by a window that looked onto the interior of the ship. 

Hundreds – no,  _ thousands  _ of cells lined the walls, looking out onto a sheer drop. He could see figures of all shapes and sizes milling behind the glass that covered the cells, could hear muted screaming, could see fists slamming against the glass.

And suddenly, the nightmare was reality. 


	2. The Lion In The Desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhhhhhh my god I am so excited for this fic!!! I've already rewatched the first two episodes and have a ton of notes on them, wrote some random scenes I like, and put down a ton of ideas. I hop y'all like it as much as I do
> 
> Happy reading:)

A year later, three entirely separate humans sat in their own ship, Kerberos in their sights, their ship shaking as they entered the atmosphere.

“Lance, can’t you keep this thing straight for once?” Hunk complained as he gripped the arms on his seat.

“Relax, I’m just getting a feel for it,” Lance called back cheerfully, “Besides, it’s not like I did _this…_ ” Lance steered the ship so it tilted to the left, “Or _this…_ ” he tilted it to the right.

“Lance, knock it off!” Hunk cried, “You know I get dizzy.”

“Hey, guys, we’ve got a signal,” Pidge pointed out, his curly head turning as he pointed at his comms screen, “It’s a call for help.”

“Alright, approaching target,” Lance said as he steered the ship down. Once he had, it began shaking.

“Lance,” Hunk warned.

“Ohhh no, this is on you buddy,” Lance shot back, “Looks like there’s something wrong with the stabilizer.”

“Aw, man.” Hunk pulled his own screen closer to him and searched through it before groaning heavily, “I’m gonna have to fix this manually, try to keep it steady.”

“Try to hurry it up,” Lance replied as Hunk carefully undid his belt and slid to the floor, crawling over to the machinery.

“Hey, Pidge!” Lance called, “Time to hail the signal, we’re getting closer!”

Pidge nodded and unbuckled his belt, standing up to reach the speaker. As he did, the ship shuddered heavily and Pidge was thrown from his seat, smacking his head on the ground.

“Pidge! What are you doing unbuckling?” Lance cried, “Get back in your seat before you get a concussion!”

“I would’ve been _fine_ if Hunk would just fix the stabilizer!” Pidge complained as he returned to his seat, his head throbbing.

“I’m _trying,_ ” Hunk yelled, “It’s...ugh...I can’t think right with all this shaking. I’m just trying not to throw up.”

“We had beef stroganoff for lunch,” Lance remembered with a groan, “That’s not gonna be an easy cleanup.”

“And I’ve lost the signal!” Pidge yelled.

“I’m not done with the stabilizer!”

“Oh, no, we’re good,” Lance told his team, “I’ve got a visual. Buckle-up everyone, we’re approaching the target.”

Hunk scurried back to his seat and peeked forward to see past Lance.

“Uh, Lance, watch that arch.”

“Yeah, you’re flying too low! Go up!”

“Uh, Pidge, I’m the pilot here!” Lance shot back as he steered it lower, then he turned and smirked at his crewmate, “My first year in flight school, they called me The Tailor because of how I _thread the needle._ ”

“This never works…” Hunk mumbled as he gripped his arms.

Sure enough, as Lance went to fly through an arch of rock, he miscalculated and hit the rock. Their ship heaved and Hunk slapped a hand over his mouth.

“We’ve lost a wing!” Pidge cried, “Lance, you idiot!”

The screen in front of them flashed red as alarm bells rang and Lance groaned as they approached impact.

“Oh man….”

The ship heaved one final time as they crashed into the surface of the moon, and the lights shut off.

After a moment, they turned back on as the door at the back of the ship was opened.

“Front and centre, cadets!”

Unhappily, the three crew members unbuckled and made their way out onto the training deck, where the rest of their class waited, watching them line up in front of their director, Iverson.

A tall man with tanned skin, a harsh face, and an eyepatch scowled at them as they hung their heads, knowing they were about to be ripped a new one in front of their entire class.

“Well cadets, that was an abysmal failure! But let’s see what we can’t do to turn this into a lesson for the rest of the class.” Then he turned to their peers, “Can anyone tell me what they did wrong?”

“The mechanic panicked!”

“The comms tech left his seat!”

“The pilot took unnecessary risks!”

“All correct,” Iverson agreed, “But can anyone tell me what their _biggest_ issue was?” After a moment of silence, he rounded back on the three in question, “It was that they argued the entire damn time! Mistakes are gonna be made, but it’s the job of your crewmates to make up for your mistakes! On a mission like this simulation, you’d be in a single craft for _months,_ just the three of you – you can’t afford to argue. It’s mental mistakes like these that cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission last year.”

“That’s not true sir!” Pidge suddenly yelled, his fists balling in his suit as he stepped forward.

“What was that?!” Iverson demanded, leaning down to get in Pidge’s face. 

Before he could say anything else, Lance lunged and clapped his hand over Pidge’s face, trying for a winning smile.

“Sorry about that, Commander,” Lance said with a laugh, “I think he hit his head when he fell out of his seat – won’t be making that mistake again.”

Iverson grumbled, then leaned down to properly face Lance.

“Don’t forget cadet, you got _lucky,_ ” Iverson snarled, “You’re only a fighter pilot because the best pilot in the program had disciplinary issues and flunked out. You wanna follow in his footsteps, McClain?”

“No, sir.”

“That’s what I thought. You three are dismissed – let’s get the next three in here!”  
With a sigh, the three of them went to the nearby locker rooms to change out of their space suits and back into their cadet uniforms. As per usual, Pidge grabbed his stuff and went to change in the bathroom, leaving Hunk and Lance to talk.

“Man, I’m tired of getting chewed out by Iverson,” Hunk said with a sigh as he sat down to yank his boots off, “I still can’t believe you convinced me to move up to Fighter Class with you. I was perfectly happy being a Cargo Class mechanic. I didn’t have to worry about _losing a wing_ when we tried to land a rescue mission. Or rescue missions – we never did those in Cargo!”

“Which is exactly why Fighter Class is so much better!” Lance argued, “And besides, you’re my best friend! I wouldn’t _dream_ of going anywhere without you!”

“Which is a mistake; we both know I shouldn’t be in Fighter Class.”

“Hunk,” Lance said, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “you’re literally the best mechanic ever. I don’t know anyone else who can hotwire a speeder like you.”

“Can’t believe you talked me into that too,” Hunk grumbled, “I thought Keith was gonna slit my throat!”

“But he didn’t! And he dropped out, and we got his spot!”

“Right.” Hunk sighed as he continued to change, “And that definitely doesn’t bother you.”

“Nope!”

“Sure. Well, it doesn’t matter, because unless we stop crashing every simulation, we’re gonna get bumped back down to Cargo.”

“Which is _exactly_ why we three are gonna hit the town.”

Hunk froze, his shirt halfway on, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah! You, me, and Pidge! I say we sneak out, head to the town, grab some Mickey-D’s! See if we can’t flirt with some cute girls….” Lance winked at him.

“Lance, are you insane?” Hunk cried, “We could get suspended, and Iverson would be happy to get rid of us!”

“Re _lax,_ ” Lance said with a laugh, tossing part of his suit at Hunk, “They’re not gonna catch us. I’ve got my speeder, we’ll be able to sneak it out no problem, be back before they do bed-checks!”

“Is this because it’s officially a month today since Jenny Slater dumped you?.”

“That is only a small part of it.”

“But it  _ is  _ a part of it.”

“Irrelevant. Hey, Pidge!”

Lance waved as Pidge came out from the washroom, adjusting his glasses, “Hunk and I are gonna head to the town tonight, why don’t you come? Do some team bonding?”

“Um, no thanks. I uh. I have some stuff I need to do tonight.”

Before Lance or Hunk could question him any more, Pidge was gone, back to the rest of the class.

“That guy sure is pretty reclusive,” Lance said as he put his shoes back on, “I never see him outside of class, he always eats alone – he even changes by himself.”

“Oh, well, I talked to his roommate, Nanurjuk?”

“Oh yeah, the Inuit guy. He’s pretty cool – what did he say?”

“He said that he thinks Pidge might be transitioning,” Hunk said, “Like, female to male sorta thing. So maybe he’s just not comfortable changing with us.”

“Okay, that’s fair, but still. He never talks to _anyone,_ not even his roommate!”

“So, what?”

“ _So!_ It means he’s part of our team, which means he has to take part in team bonding.”

“You’re insane.”

Lance grinned, “That means you’re in?”

* * *

“Lights out! Everyone head to your rooms!”

“This is a bad idea,” Hunk mumbled as Lance pressed his face to the door, searching through the peephole. 

“No, it’s not. This place is surprisingly easy to sneak in and out of.”

“It’s a government military facility!”

“Yeah – not as secure as Mamì’s house, I’ll tell you that. Oh look, they’re starting room checks!”

Sure enough, a moment later, a knock came at the door.

“Open up!”

Lance opened the door to see an officer holding a clipboard. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Lance and Hunk’s civilian clothes.

“What...are you wearing?”

“Oh, this?” Lance looked at himself and Hunk. Hunk was wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt with black cargo pants and his usual green bandana around his forehead. Lance meanwhile had a blue turtleneck and jeans, “We were getting a little homesick, thought it might help if we put on our street clothes.”

“Alright…” the officer shook her head and marked their attendance down on her clipboard, “Well, goodnight.”

“Night!” Lance replied cheerfully as he shut the door. He waited until she went to the next room before pumping his fist.

“Alright! Phase One complete. C’mon, let’s go get Pidge.”

“This sucks,” Hunk mumbled as he grabbed his green bomber jacket and Lance grabbed his old aviator covered in patches. They opened their door and peeked around the hallway – now dark – to make sure no one was around. Once they cleared the empty hallway, they began to creep in the direction of Pidge’s room.

“We’re gonna get caught,” Hunk grumbled as they quietly moved through the halls, “we’re gonna get caught and we’re gonna get expelled.”

“Hunk, _relax_. It’s gonna be fine. Here, hold up.”

They had reached the instructor’s lounge, and Lance crouched down by the large window looking out onto the hallway. Lance crouched down to make sure no one had noticed them, then he began to crawl underneath.

“I don’t know how I let you talk me into these things,” Hunk continued, “Taking the scariest kid’s speeder for a joyride, moving up to Fighter Class, sneaking _out_!”

“Ssh!” Lance hissed, “Someone’s coming! Quick, get in those bins!”

“What? _No!_ ”

“It’s recycling day, they’re gonna be empty! Now c’mon!”  
Lance and Hunk quickly scrambled into a pair of nearby blue and yellow bins, respectively. They waited until they heard an officer pass them by before Lance leapt out.

“Coast is clear. Let’s go, we’re almost at Pidge’s room!”

Hunk pulled himself out of the bin, huffing and puffing.

“Hold up!”

They both paused at a corner as they saw Pidge’s door open, then Pidge himself slipped out. He was wearing civilian clothes like them – a green hoodie with a holographic alien head wearing black headphones, and some baggy ripped jeans. He also had a backpack and he glanced both ways before running off.

“Now where is _he_ off too?” Lance wondered, “C’mon, let’s follow.”

“Alright, sure. Probably not gonna mean we’re sneaking out of the base.”

So, Lance and Hunk followed their third crewmate at a distance, all the way up to the roof, where he propped the door open with a brick. Lance and Hunk waited a bit before they went up, finding Pidge sitting in front of a computer, headphones on. Carefully, they snuck up behind him. Smothering a laugh, Lance gently lifted one of the ears of the headphones and leaned into Pidge’s ear.

“You come up here to rock out?”

“Waah!” Pidge cried, jerking back as Lance laughed.

“Hey, what is this stuff anyways? Doesn’t look like Garrison tech,” Hunk asked, his hand drifting towards a miniature satellite disk.

“Ah! No touching!” Pidge commanded, slapping Hunk’s hand away and taking off his headphones to hang around his neck, “And you’re right – it’s not Garrison tech, I made it.”

“You made all this?” Hunk asked, sneaking closer, “No way!” He poked the laptop.

“Second warning, Hunk!” Pidge slapped his hand again, “And yup, made it all by myself. This baby can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system, pick up radio waves.”

“All the way to the edge of the solar system, huh?” Lance mused, “Does that mean it reaches Kerberos too?”

Pidge suddenly shrank in on himself and started doodling in his notebook.

“C’mon man, what is it with you and Kerberos?” Lance cried, “You go nuts every time someone brings it up!”

“Alright, fine,” Pidge admitted with a sigh, “the Kerberos Mission wasn’t caused by mechanic _or_ pilot error. The entire thing has been super suspicious.”

“Uh, _duh!_ ” Lance said, “Two of the greatest scientists and techs of the Garrison _and_ the best pilot just all suddenly die after totally normal radio communication? Sus as hell.”

“I did look into it,” Hunk admitted, “apparently, the logs said they landed safely, but nothing else aside from that.”  
“Exactly,” Pidge said, “So I’ve been scanning for waves and I found – HUNK STOP TOUCHING MY STUFF!”  
Hunk, who had been inching closer to Pidge’s computer, slumped over with a small groan.

“Pidge, what did you find?”

“I’ve been able to pick up alien radio chatter,” Pidge explained.

“Hold up – _aliens_?” Lance asked, “What makes you think they’re aliens?”

“Because the communication they’re using is not in any language that exists on Earth,” Pidge said, “I tried running it through a few international translators early on, but nothing caught on, and I mean _nothing,_ not even a couple of words. I’ve tried a bunch of other stuff, but nothing seems to catch. But! I did recognize one word – Voltron.”

Pidge flipped around their notebook to show a page filled with tallies, scribbles, and the word ‘voltron’ written over and over again.

“Voltron?” Lance echoed, “The hell does that mean?”

“I have no clue,” Pidge admitted with a sigh, “they just keep saying it over and over again. And tonight, it’s going crazier than ever. Something big is happening, and it’s happening _soon._ ”

Before the other two could ask what Pidge meant, an alarm blared through the loudspeakers on the roof.

“Attention, attention all staff and students: remain inside! This is not a drill, code Beta Red!”

“Beta Red?” Lance asked, “What’s that?”

“Nothing good,” Hunk assumed.

“It means an incoming craft,” Pidge said, scrambling for his adjustable binoculars.

“You mean that one?” Hunk yelled, pointing at a red dot in the sky that was getting quite large very quickly, “Is that one of ours?”

Lance snatched the binoculars from Pidge, who was still clinging onto them. He protested, but Lance ignored him.

“Holy _crow_ !” He yelled, the electric binoculars zooming in, “That does _not_ look like one of ours!”

It most certainly did _not._ It was massive and looked like an escape pod, but it was all black and purple, the opposite of the Garrison’s crafts.

It wasn’t long before the craft came into plain sight, falling through the sky in a blazing ball of fire. The three watched as the pod crashed behind some hills in the desert. In no time at all, vehicles of all sorts were rushing out from the Galaxy Garrison to meet it.

“C’mon, let’s go check it out!” Lance declared, scrambling to get up.

“How’re we gonna get there?” Pidge asked, quickly gathering his stuff up.

“I have a speeder hidden nearby,” Lance explained, “Hunk and I built it when we first started here. Now let’s go!”

“Um, what?” Hunk said, sitting up and looking at his team, “Did you not hear them tell everyone to stay in their dorms? We’re on lockdown, people! And I don’t know about you, but an alien spacecraft doesn’t exactly scream ‘safe’!”

“Nope! That’s what makes it exciting!” Lance replied cheerfully, tugging on Hunk’s arm, “Let’s go man! Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“It doesn’t _exist_!” Hunk protested, but he let Lance pull him to his feet, and the three of them made their way downstairs and outside, to an outcropping of boulders. They climbed around, revealing a beat-up hover speeder that was given a rough blue paint job.

“I can really tell you built this thing,” Pidge muttered as they eyed it up, “Is it safe?”

“It’s _fine,_ ” Lance assured, “and we didn’t really have a lot to work with.”

“It’s funny how you keep saying ‘we’,” Hunk complained as he got on the passenger seat, “When _I_ was the one that did all of the actual building.”

“Hey, I do a bunch of maintenance!” Lance protested, “Now let’s go! Go, go, go!”

Lance barely made sure everyone was on before turning on his speeder and scooting off across the desert, following the glow on the horizon where the ship had landed. By the looks of things, Garrison had already set up a perimeter.

Sure enough, when the three of them parked and found a spot on a hill overlooking it, there was already a tent erected around the crash site, the pod being loaded onto a truck for inspection.

“Woah, look at all this stuff! What the heck even is that thing?” Lance said, once again with the binoculars, surveying the scene, “Pidge, can we look inside that tent?”

“Surrounded by guards,” Pidge said as he typed on his keyboard, “ _But_ I managed to get onto the security cams’ feed. Check it out.”

The three of them huddled around Pidge’s laptop to see inside the tent. There was a medical table and two guys in hazmat suits, and on the table was….

“Shiro?” Lance asked.

“ _Pilot Shirogane, please, calm down!_ ” One of the hazmats were saying.

“ _No!_ ” Shiro yelled. He was bound to the table, and he was wearing a full-length black bodysuit, as well as a ripped purple shirt, _“No, you have to listen to me! They’re coming, and they’re looking for it! They’re looking for Voltron!_ ”

“There it is again!” Pidge said, “But what does Shiro have to do with Voltron? And what about the rest of the crew?”

_“Sir, look! His arm seems to have been replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic!”_

_“Listen to me!”_ Shiro cried, struggling against the straps on the table, _“When they get here, it will be nothing but destruction! We can’t let them get Voltron!”_

“ _Let’s put him under for further examination.”_

_“No! No! Don’t put me under! Don’t –”_

“Are they serious?” Lance cried, gesturing at the camera, “That’s Takashi Shirogane! The dude’s a legend _and_ one of the guys on the Kerberos crew. Why aren’t they listening to him?”

“Or asking about the rest of the crew?” Pidge asked, looking worried, “If Shiro made it back, then the others could be close behind.”

“They’re focused on the arm,” Hunk realized, “they just wanna look at the tech.”

“We have to get him out of there,” Lance decided. He stood up, but Hunk immediately pulled him down.

“Are you crazy?! You _just_ said that we couldn’t get in there because it was surrounded by guards!”

“Hunk’s right,” Pidge said, “We’ll need a plan. Maybe if we manage to grab some hazmat suits, we can sneak in.”

“ _Or_ ,” Hunk suggested, “we head back to base, steal some chef uniforms, get into the commissary, and get ourselves a midnight snack. Hmm? Hmm?”

“No, Hunk, we gotta help him,” Lance said, covering his mouth as he thought, “We just need a distraction.”

Suddenly, there was a series of small explosions not far from the tent.

The three boys yelped and jumped back, watching in shock as the cars and security quickly left to check it out.

“What the heck was _that_!” Lance cried.

“A distraction!” Pidge yelled, grabbing his binoculars and looking towards the east, “For him!”

Lance grabbed the binoculars.

“Stop doing that!”

“I can’t believe this!” Lance said, zooming in, “Ugh, he’s always trying to one-up me!”

“Wait, is it actually him?” Hunk asked.

“Yup! I’d know that mullet anywear!” Lance tossed the binoculars back to Pidge and began to slide down the rocky hill.

“Is it really Keith?” Hunk asked, rushing after him.

“Who’s Keith?!” Pidge cried, hurrying to pack his things.

* * *

Keith made quick work of the guards at the door. When he went into the main part of the tent, his lower half covered by a bandana, he caught the attention of the two guys in hazmat.

“What–?”

But they didn’t get a chance to ask anything, because Keith landed a kick to the side of their head, then punched the other one, knocking both of them out. He hurried to the medical table and gently turned the patient’s head, shocked to see who it was.

“Shiro…?” Keith whispered, pulling down his mask. He shook his head and took out his knife, hacking through the straps in a single motion. As he was lifting him up, he heard a familiar voice.

“Ah! Nope, no-no-no-nope! _You_ are not gonna take this! I am gonna rescue Shiro!”

Keith looked up to see a familiar guy striding in, with two more people behind him. Keith was about to fight, but then the boy went to Shiro’s other side and helped lift him up.

“Um...who are you?” Keith asked.

“C’mon, you really don’t remember?” Lance cried, “We were in flight school together, we were rivals?”

“Uh…”

“C’mon! The name’s _Lance._ Like, y’know? Lance and Keith? Neck and neck?”

“Right. Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry.”

“Alright, well, whatever. Let’s just get this guy out of here. I have a speeder up the hill –”

“No time,” Keith said as he and Lance made for the door, “They’ll be back any minute, and we need to leave _now._ ”

“We’ll come back for it later,” Pidge assured as they hurried to a nearby boulder where Keith had hidden this speeder.

“Woah,” Pidge said, admiring the modern red model, “Now _this_ is a speeder!”

“Shut up and help us!” Lance said, helping Keith load Shiro onto the speeder. It was smaller than his, so it was faster, but…

“Are you sure this thing can hold all of us?” Hunk asked as he hopped onto the tail end, sending the front up like a teeter-totter until it balanced. 

“No,” Keith replied flatly. Just then, they saw lights approaching from the north, “We’ve got company, let’s move. You, hold onto him.”

“Wait, why am I holding onto this guy?”Pidge cried as they shoved Shiro in his lap. 

“Don’t complain, let’s move!”

Keith sat in the main seat while Lance hung off the side right behind Keith, with Pidge sat behind him holding onto Shiro, and Hunk gripped the tail end of the speeder right in front of the two hover wheels.

“Hey!” Hunk cried cheerfully, “We did all fit!”

“Hey Mullet,” Lance called as he looked back, “We’ve got tails! Three of em!”

“Great,” Keith grumbled, then he looked back at Hunk, “Big man! Lean left!”

Hunk listened and the speeder careened left, avoiding a large boulder. They were now at the edge of a precipice, with a ledge down below.

“Lean right!”

Hunk obeyed again and they flew off the edge, landing on the ledge below and continuing off. One of the cars stopped and slammed into the other.

“Oh no way!” Hunk yelled as he looked back, “Mr. Montgomery just _slammed_ into Sir Laurens. Oh? Oh they’re good. We’re good.”

“Keith, pay attention!” Pidge cried, “Is that a cliff up ahead?”

Sure enough, there was a sheer drop off right in front of them.

“No! No no no no!” Lance yelled, Hunk and Pidge parroting him.

“Yup,” Keith said with a smirk as he leaned over the handlebars and revved the engine, soaring off the cliff while his passengers screamed. He adjusted for the new weight and they landed – bumpy, but they landed. A second of recalibration later, they were once again speeding off into the desert, the cruisers left behind them.

It was quiet for the rest of the ride. As they were all wondering where they were going, Keith began to slow down. They could see a shack in the distance, and Keith actually parked his speeder there.

“Alright,” he said, “Everybody off. Little guy, hand Shiro to me.”

“I’m _Pidge_ ,” he said indignantly as he handed Shiro off to Keith.

“Right.”

“Is this place safe?” Hunk asked, glancing around them nervously, “They won’t, like, track us down here?”

“No, it’s fine,” Keith assured as he dragged Shiro inside, kicking his door open, “No one knows this is out here except for Adam.”

“Do you mean Professor Adam DiAngelo?” Lance asked, “Shiro’s husband?”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t been out here in ages. Shut the door, will you?”

They did, and the three outsiders got a look at the shack. It was small, clearly meant for only one person, _maybe_ two. It had a pullout couch, an oven/stove, a table, a single light hanging from the ceiling, and a bathroom. There was also a board, covered with a sheet.

“Lance, open up that bed so I can put Shiro on it.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Nonetheless, Lance opened up the futon couch and Keith gently laid Shiro down on it. 

The rest of the group was able to better see Keith, now that they weren’t being chased by their teachers. He had black ripped jeans, a red biker’s jacket, fingerless gloves, and his ever-present mullet.

“So...what now?” Pidge asked.

“We wait for him to wake up,” Keith said, leaning against a wall.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime soon,” Hunk said, looking over Shiro, “Pidge hacked into the cams and we saw them put Shiro under – if he didn’t wake up during that chase, he’s not gonna wake up for another few _hours._ ”

“Great.”

“Well, in the meantime, I’m gonna go and get my speeder,” Lance said, making for the door.

“Uh, Lance? How’re you gonna get there?” Pidge asked.

“Easy, I’ll just take Keith’s speeder and Hunk’ll come with me. Let’s go.”

“Uh, _no,_ ” Keith said, standing up straight, “You’re not taking my ride.”

“Why not? It’s not like I’ve never driven it before. Now let’s – Ah!”

This last part was because Keith had thrown his knife in the door near Lance. He startled and jumped back, then he scowled.

“What the heck, man?”  
“I remember you now,” Keith said, marching up to Lance, “You and the big guy hotwired my speeder and took it for a joyride. I _still_ haven’t gotten all the dents out of it.”

“Chill man, it was just a prank! There’s no need to throw _knives_ at me!”

“A prank? You _stole_ my speeder and almost crashed it! And why? Because _I_ got into Fighter Class and you didn’t?”

“Actually, Hunk and I are in Fighter now, thanks to you dropping out,” Lance snapped back, “And we did it because it was _your_ fault we failed the simulation exam! We were doing just fine until you cut us off and sent us spiralling!”

“If you couldn’t recover from a simple trick like that, then you don’t deserve to be in Fighter.”

“Says the _dropout_!”

“Okay, guys!” Hunk interjected, coming to stand between Lance and Keith while Pidge was watching with fascination, “Keith, I’m sorry we stole your speeder and damaged it, that was mean. _But,_ it was kind of a dick move you pulled, especially since it was the exam. Can we all agree on that?”

Keith and Lance stared each other down before Keith sighed, “ _Fine._ Let’s go get your junkyard ride.”

“It’s _self-made_ ,” Lance corrected indignantly as Keith pried his knife out of the wall, “and I’m going with Hunk.”

“No, you’re not. I don’t trust either of you with my ride, and someone has to stay here with Shiro.”

“Pidge is here.”

Keith turned and looked the boy up and down before shaking his head, “Yeah, no offense, but I don’t trust you alone.”

Pidge shrugged, “That’s fair.”

“So Hunk and Pidge stay here, you and I go get your speeder.”

“Ugh! Fine!” Lance threw up his hands, “I just want my ride back!”

So, Keith and Lance went out to his speeder. Keith sat in his regular seat while Lance sat behind him, bracing himself on the wings of the speeder. The ride was quiet, partially because it would’ve been hard to hear each other, but mostly because the boys didn’t like each other all that much.

“Here,” Keith said quietly as he parked his speeder behind a large rock near the camp, which was still set up, “I can’t get closer, and hurry up. I don’t want to have to run from them again.”

“I’ll be fine,” Lance hissed, then he ran off to where he hid his speeder. 

While he was gone, Keith pulled out his phone. He stared at the contact he pulled up, unwilling to call. But he sighed, knowing it was for the best.

After the second ring, he picked up.

“ _Keith?”_

Keith sighed and leaned on his handlebars, speaking quietly, “Yeah, Adam. It’s me.”

“ _Were those explosions you?”_ Adam demanded, and Keith could hear background chatter, “ _There was a break-in at the camp, they said it looked like you! What the hell is going on?”_

“Yeah, well, did they tell you it was _Shiro_ that was inside the aircraft?”

“ _No, wait, what? Are you sure it was Shiro?”_

 _“_ I’m positive. I got him out, but they put him under. He’s asleep at the shack now, along with a bunch of other Garrison students.”

“ _I – Keith, I can’t get away right now. Everyone is going insane, trying to figure out what’s happening. I doubt they’ve even noticed the students were gone. Do you know what happened?_ ”

“No – like I said, when I got there he was already out. I can see if the others know, they said they hacked into the cams, they might’ve heard something. I gotta go – we have to head back to the shack.”

“ _Alright. Please keep in touch – I know that’s something we both struggled with after –”_

“I’ll keep you updated,” Keith replied curtly, “I just thought I’d call and let you know Shiro’s alive.”

As Lance’s speeder came into view, Keith hung up.

“Who ya talking to?” Lance asked as he pulled up.

“No one. Let’s get back before they notice us.”

“Whatever,” Lance said, both he and Keith revving their engines and zooming back to the shack. There might have been a question of where everyone was sleeping, but no one could find it in themselves to be tired. Lance went to work on his speeder uselessly, Pidge used his scanner, Hunk looked through Pidge’s stuff while he wasn’t looking, Shiro slept, and Keith sat on the roof, watching the desert very slowly come to life throughout the night.

Right around dawn, Shiro startled Hunk and Pidge by sitting bolt upright and yelling out, “They’re coming! We have to stop them!”  
Both Hunk and Pidge yelled in shock, drawing the attention of the other two. They rushed inside to find Shiro clutching his head, breathing heavily.

“Shiro!” Keith cried, shoving Pidge away to kneel by the bed. Shiro looked at him with wide eyes.

“Keith...how did...what happened?”

“You crash landed,” Keith explained, “The Garrison intercepted the crash site and put you under, but I got you out.”

“ _We,”_ Lance grumbled quietly.

“Out!” Keith suddenly commanded, “All of you, get out!”

“What? Why?” Lance demanded.

“Let’s just give them some space,” Hunk said, gently tugging Lance’s arm, “We’ll come back in when they’re ready.”

“Alright fine,” Lance said, turning away as the three of them left the building.

“Here,” Keith said, standing up and grabbing some folded clothes, “They’re my dad’s old clothes, but they should fit.”

“Thanks.”

Shiro took off the ratted purple shirt but kept on the bodysuit. Keith turned away, though he did not miss Shiro’s cybernetic arm.

“So,” Keith asked, “What happened?”

“I...I honestly don’t know,” Shiro said with a sigh as he continued to get dressed, “My brain is pretty scrambled.”

“Scrambled?” 

“No, I’m fine, I mean – a lot happened, and I really don’t remember, like any of it. If I had to take a guess, I would say I’m probably repressing my memories. Which is, you know, not a great sign. Um...how’s Adam?”

“He’s good. Well, he’s okay, all things considered. I called him, he’s glad to hear you’re alive.”

“Right. Glad to hear that – I mean, I would hope that he’d be happy, I _did_ marry him.”

Keith and Shiro laughed, though a bit awkwardly.

“So, how did you find me?”

“It’s...complicated. Let’s bring the others back in.”

When Keith opened the door, the other three filtered in, standing and looking at Shiro awkwardly.

“Are we getting an explanation now?” Lance asked.

Keith just glared at him a moment before turning to the board and ripping the sheet off, revealing pictures, drawings, maps, and other things.

“What is all this?” Shiro asked, leaning forward and touching the board with his prosthetic arm.

“After you disappeared,” Keith began, looking intently at the board, “I was...lost. I found myself back out here, and as I kind of wandered around, I could feel some...some sort of force calling to me. I followed the feeling to this area here –” he tapped a part of the map nearby “– and I found a bunch of caves filled with these drawings, these carvings. They all share the same story about a blue lion, although the details tend to differ everywhere from a gift from the gods to futuristic alien technology. But all of the stories shared clues, leading up to some event, some _arrival_ in this section of the desert.” Keith moved his hand to the part where Shiro had been found, then turned to the man, “I prepared for it, but I...I didn’t think it would be you.”

“Well, it’s nice to know my crash landing was foretold by ancient carvings,” Shiro said with a sigh, then he turned to the three students by the couch, “I guess I should thank all of you for helping to rescue me.” He stuck out his arm to Lance first and smiled, “I’m Shiro.”

Lance glanced down at the cybernetic arm that was extended to him. After a moment of hesitation, he smiled and took it, “I’m Lance.”

Shiro then turned to Hunk, who looked rather busy having an existential crisis as he looked at the board. Pidge adjusted his glasses with a sigh before taking Shiro’s hand.

“The nervous one is Hunk, and I’m Pidge. So uh...do you remember anything? Maybe about your other crew members?”

Shiro withdrew his hand and sighed, “No, I’m sorry. Everything is so muddled and confusing. I do remember one thing though – Voltron. They kept talking about it, I...I think it’s some kind of superweapon.”

“There’s that word again!” Hunk suddenly cried, turning around and pulling a notebook from one of the pockets on his belt, “Voltron! I was digging through Pidge’s stuff last night and here, look – it’s a picture of him and his girlfriend.” Hunk held up a picture of Pidge in a Garrison uniform and a girl in a purple dress with long ginger hair like his.

“Hey!” Pidge cried with a blush, snatching the picture from Hunk’s hand and stuffing it back in his backpack.

“And I was also looking through his diary –”

“ _What?”_

“– and I noticed that his recordings of numbers looked a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”

“A frown-what?” Keith asked.

“Fraunhofer,” Hunk explained, “It’s a sequence of numbers that represent an element’s emission spectrum, but I checked, and this Fraunhofer line doesn’t match any element known on Earth, so I thought maybe it was this Voltron. I can probably make a tracker, sorta like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

“Hunk, that’s genius!” Lance praised.

“It could very well be Voltron,” Shiro mused, “Since we’re dealing with extraterrestrial technology.”

“It’s all really fascinating, honestly,” Hunk admitted, pulling out a folded-up piece of paper and holding it up for the group to see, “I did a rough graph of what the wavelength would look like for this ‘Voltron’. Cool, right?”

“Gimme that!” Keith said, snatching the paper from Hunk’s hand. Before they could protest, he held it up next to a picture of the nearby rock formations, and the two outlines looked eerily similar.

The resemblance was made even more uncanny when they went there in person and stood at the spot where Keith had taken the picture. Sure enough, the wavelength matched up almost perfectly with Hunk’s graph.

“Okay,” Lance admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck, “This is gettin’ freaky, and not in a fun way. Does anyone else feel like they’re being pulled by a magnet?”

“Is it in that direction?” Hunk asked, pointing his little machine towards an arch that led into an alley between the formations, “Because I’m getting a reading.”  
Carefully, the five of them picked their way over the rocks in the direction Hunk led them in, Pidge following him, holding a small satellite dish. Lance followed, but he kept glancing over his shoulder.

“What?” Keith finally demanded after Lance glanced towards him for the millionth time.

“Nothing,” Lance mumbled, “I just feel like I’m being watched, so if you could keep your eyes off me for once, that would be great.”

“You’re delusional.” Then Keith sighed as he crossed his arms and looked at the rocks high above them, “But...this place is pretty weird. I’ve felt like that before.”

“Great, so we’ve both gone insane.”

“Guys! It’s coming from there!”

Hunk gestured to one of the caves nearby, and his machine was beeping like crazy. They followed him in and sure enough, the entire cave was filled with all sorts of carvings, but most predominantly, a giant lion.

“They’re everywhere,” Shiro said. They all looked at different parts of the walls.

“It took me a while to try to decipher them,” Keith said, “But about here is when they start showing an arrival, and that was a star map for last night.”

Lance walked through the cave, and he gently ran his hand along a carving of the lion. As he touched it, the carving began to glow blue, spreading to all of the drawings in the cave.

“Woah!” Lance yelped.

“They’ve never done that before,” Keith said, his hand reaching for his knife.

“Everyone stay together,” Shiro told them, “Keep a look–AAH!”

Everyone suddenly yelled as the floor below them collapsed and they found themselves sliding along a shallow underground river. They all yelled, almost entirely blind and having no idea where they were going, unable to stop or even slow down.

Quickly, the water deposited them off a small waterfall and into a pool. They all quickly paddled to the shore, trying to catch their breath.

“Is everyone, _huff,_ okay?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Hunk said as he sat up, then he looked and saw Lance standing at the edge of the water, “Lance, wha – oh, my god.”

“They _are_ everywhere,” Lance mumbled.

There, in front of them, was a _massive_ blue lion. It looked like a machine, like an automaton of a lion the size of a...well, it was hard to compare it. The thing was _huge_ , towering over them. Paws of the feet alone stood as tall as Shiro, and there was no doubt that if it were a living creature, it would swallow them like a piece of kibble.

“This must be it!” Pidge said, “This must be Voltron!”

“No wonder they want to get their hands on it,” Shiro said, “This thing is massive, who knows what it can do.”

“Looks like there’s some kind of force field around it though,” Hunk noted, obviously talking about the see-through blue bubble around it.

“Let’s see if we can’t do something about that,” Keith decided as he started walking towards it. The others followed, and Lance walked from side-to-side, frowning.

“Is anyone else majorly creeped out?” Lance asked them, “I feel like it’s staring at me.”

“Nope,” Pidge replied.

“I don’t think any of us feel that,” Keith replied curtly.

“Yeah well, its eyes are _definitely_ following me.”

They all reached the force field and Keith immediately placed his hands on it, ripples extending from where he touched it.

“How do we get past it?” Keith wondered.

“Maybe we just have to knock,” Lance suggested, then he rapped his knuckles on the forcefield three times, a sound like tapping plexiglass reverberating through the cavern. Amazingly, the force field began to disintegrate in a pretty blue light and the robot’s yellow eyes flashed and suddenly, they all had a vivid vision.

_There was the blue lion, flying through the sky. Soon, it was joined by four other massive lions: red, yellow, green, and black. The four of them converged and were hidden by a bright flash of light. When the light subsided, there stood a man-like robot, the lions making up its body and limbs as it pulled a flaming sword._

The vision disappeared and the five of them were in awe.

“Guys,” Hunk said, gradually coming back down to Earth, “Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a _huge,_ awesome robot!”

“And this is only one part of it!” Pidge agreed, matching Hunk’s excited tone, “This is literally just a limb for the whole that is Voltron!”

“This is insane,” Keith mused, “I never thought that something like this would be hidden out here.”

“But this means that Voltron is even more dangerous than we thought,” Shiro said, sounding a bit worried, “I thought it was just this one robot, but if it’s _five_ of them that combine into one superweapon, that’s even worse. We can’t let them get this.”

“But what are we supposed to do with it?” Pidge asked.

“It stayed hidden for this long, maybe we should leave it?” Hunk suggested.

“No, we found it pretty easily once we figured out what we needed to look for,” Keith argued, “These aliens already know what this thing is, and probably how to find it. Maybe if we figure out how to reactivate the force field….”

While they talked, Lance just was not paying attention. Ever since the vision, Lance had felt a strange, fuzzy energy within him. He had a sudden urge to fly, to stretch his limbs, as though he hadn’t moved in a thousand years – but he was frozen in place, his eyes locked on the yellow eyes of the blue lion.

They needed to leave this place.

 _Okay,_ Lance thought in response to the sudden need to leave, _Let’s get out of here, and bring you with us._

The lion would take them away.

As soon as the idea was in his head, the massive lion suddenly began to move, causing all conversation to cease. The lion stood and the cave began to shake. Everyone shouted and tried to find their footing except for Lance, who was mesmerized by the movement of the lion, how it knelt down before them and opened its mouth, its chin opening into a ramp that lit up blue, leading the way, presumably, to the cockpit.

Lance glanced at the other four around them and saw them staring in awe. He looked back at the lion and felt nothing but an open invitation. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself a bit as he began to make his way up the ramp.

It turned and two silvery doors slid open in front of him, revealing a cockpit. There was one seat that looked like a gamer’s chair, with two handles right at the front. Lance took a seat and once he leaned back, the chair sprang forward and the cockpit lit up blue. There were pedals where he could rest his feet and a bunch of blue holoscreens flickered to life, the black wall in front of him switching to view the cave in which they sat.

The others stood behind him as they filed in, awing at the scene around them.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Hunk said, putting a hand on the back of Lance’s chair, “I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page, just want everyone to understand that we are in a giant, alien, futuristic cat head right now.”

“This is insane,” Pidge mused as he leaned forward to inspect the screens, “I’ve never seen tech quite like this.”

“I mean, it _is_ alien tech,” Keith said.

Lance was just about to tell Keith to stuff it, when he suddenly heard a deep purring in his head.

“Woah, woah guys did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Shiro asked.

“Is this ship haunted?” Hunk cried.

The noise returned and Lance – for a brief moment – felt the world fall away and was just in a haze of blue.

“There it is again!” He yelled when the noise stopped, “I think it’s talking to me. Hold on...hmm.” He leaned forward and looked at the controls. They didn’t have any labels or anything, but he trusted his gut as he pressed a couple of the buttons. Once he had, the lion stood up and roared, startling everyone in the cockpit.

“Okay, I got it! Now let’s try _this._ ” Lance grabbed the handles and thrust them forward with a grin. Immediately, the lion burst through the cave, exploding out of the rock formation and bounding into the expanse of the desert. It spun and flew through the air, and as they approached the ground, it steadied its legs as jets shot out of the feet, propelling it above the ground. It blasted off again, while the four standing people in the cockpit clung to the chair, to Lance, to each other. As they turned up in a loop, the yelling only got louder.

“You! Are the _worst_ ! Pilot! _Ever!_ ” Keith yelled as they twirled in the air.

The thrusters activated at the side of the lion, giving them even more power. The crew kept screaming, and even Lance had a hard time holding on.

Meanwhile, back at the Garrison which was still on lockdown, Iverson and another officer stood on the roof, watching the ship playing in the air.

“What the _hell_ is that?” Iverson growled.

“Um, I believe it is a giant blue lion...sir.”

“I can _see_ that. But it doesn’t look Earth-made.” He scowled, “Are they early?”

The blue lion slammed to the ground and started running across the desert, and Lance couldn’t help but grin.

“Isn’t this awesome?”

“Make it stop!” Hunk yelled, squeezing his eyes shut, “ _Please_ make it stop!”

“I’m not making it do anything!” Lance replied, “It’s like this thing is piloting itself!”

“Well, take back control!” Shiro commanded.

“That’s the thing – _I’m in control!_ It’s like, me and the machine are just in sync!”

Just then, the thrusters engaged again and they took off, rocketing through the sky. 

“Where are you going?” Keith demanded.

“I _just_ said that it’s on autopilot!” Lance shot back, “It says that there’s an alien ship approaching earth and we’re supposed to stop it.”

“What did it say, exactly?” Shiro prompted.

“Well it wasn’t _words,_ it’s more like it’s putting thoughts into my head. Kinda? I don’t know!”

“Wait, the aliens are looking for this thing, right?” Hunk said, “Maybe we should just hand it over, that way they can have what they want and they’ll just leave! Uh, nothing personal, giant blue lion!”

“No!” Shiro said firmly, “You don’t understand – these beings are a plague. They spread across the galaxy and bring nothing but death and destruction. It’s impossible to bargain or reason with these monsters. They won’t stop until everything is destroyed and they have the planet under their rule.”

Everyone turned to look at Hunk.

“Oh. Well, I did not know that. Guess we _won’t_ hand it over.”

By that point, they were out of the atmosphere and in Earth’s orbit, not too much farther than the moon. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a massive purple and black ship appeared, facing Earth.

Everyone gasped as Lance steered them around it, watching from a distance. 

“Holy _shit_!” Pidge yelled.

“Is that really an alien ship?” Keith said.

“Oh my god, it’s _massive,_ ” Hunk whimpered.

“They found me…” Shiro muttered, his eyes widening and his heart hammering in his ears as the purple glow took up his vision, “They’ve found me…”

The ship seemed to have noticed them, because it suddenly started blasting rays of purple light – no doubt some kind of destructive laser. Lance moved the lion out of the way and gripped the handles harder.

“Everyone hold on! I need to get this thing out of here!”

Lance continued to dodge and weave between the beams of light while everyone yelled. Except for Lance, everyone was focused on holding on, not throwing up, and desperately hoping that they wouldn’t die.

“Okay! I think I know what I need to do!” Lance told them, leaning forward as he tried to focus.

“Be careful man,” Pidge warned, “This isn’t just a simulator!”

“Oh, well that’s good!” Lance replied with a laugh, “I always crash the simulator!”

Then he pulled up so he was facing the side of the ship, then he thrust the left handle forward. As he did, a beam of blue light exploded from the lion’s mouth, raking across the ship, leaving a haze of fiery explosions in its wake.

“Alright! Now let’s try _this_!” He steered the lion right alongside the sip and landed on it, raking his claws along the length of the ship, creating only further destruction. He pulled away before they could land a good hit on him.

“That was awesome!” Hunk whooped.

“Good job, Lance,” Shiro managed, trying to stay composed, “Now let’s try to lead this thing away from Earth.”

“On it!” The lion sped away and, after a moment, the giant ship began to follow them. 

“They’re following us,” Hunk warned.

“Good,” Keith said, looking at the holoscreen in the corner that displayed the ship behind them, “We want them to get away from Earth.”

“It’s weird though,” Lance said, “They’re just...following. They’re not shooting at us or anything. Shouldn’t they be?”

“Oh, so we’re okay with imperialist aliens chasing us now,” Hunk said, “I gotta say guys, I do _not_ like this new direction!”

“Where are we anyways?” Pidge asked.

“Edge of the solar system…” Shiro said, pointing at the rock passing them by, “That...that’s Kerberos.”

“What? It takes _months_ for our ships to get out here!” Pidge cried, “We made it here in like, 10 seconds!”

As they passed by the last of Pluto’s moons, a black hole opened up in front of them.

Well, they _thought_ it was a black hole at first, because the stars behind it were gone, replaced with a swirling nebula. But along the edge of it was a giant blue halo with circles moving around it. It looked magical, and the group was sure that they were hallucinating.

“Okay, guys,” Lance said warily, “this is going to sound crazy but...the lion wants us to go through the wormhole.”

“Where does it go?” Hunk asked.

“I...I dunno.” Lance glanced up at Shiro, “Shiro sir, you’re the highest-ranked and you’ve got experience with...this. Well, more than us. What should we do?”

All eyes turned to Shiro, and he suddenly felt the weight of a mission on his shoulders.

Except this time, everyone around him were children.

He took a breath and tried to sound confident.

“Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do. If it’s telling us to go through the wormhole, then I think it’s doing so for a good reason. I say we trust it, but we’re all in this together, and that makes us a team now. We should all decide.”

Everyone looked at each other and slowly, they each nodded their assent in turn. Pidge and Hunk both put their hands on Lance’s shoulder, and he forced a smile.

“Alright. Looks like we’re all ditching class tomorrow.”

Then Lance guided them through the wormhole, and they were enveloped by white nothingness.


	3. The Alteans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoooookay!!! So I'm getting more into this fic!! Sorry if it's slow-going, and I know the first few chapters are gonna be a lot like Voltron. TBH this is my first time doing a rewrite like this, so this is a bit of an experiment, but it WILL differ soon – I just really like the first ep as is, with some minor changes
> 
> Also! I'm using he/him pronouns for Pidge rn, at least until they come out, then I'll switch pronouns for Pidge
> 
> anyways, stay safe, and happy reading:)

They felt like they were all being crushed yet expanded infinitely at the same time. There was nothing but pressure and blinding white light as they travelled through the wormhole, and everyone was worried that they would be spaghettified by the twisting of time and space.

Thankfully, it was over in a moment and the lion flew out, suddenly finding everyone back in space.

“That was not fun,” Hunk groaned, sliding down to lean against Lance’s left side of the chair, “I’m gonna...I’m gonna sit down for a sec. Yeah.”

“Where are we?” Pidge asked as he adjusted his glasses.

“I don’t recognize any of these stars or constellations,” Shiro said, “We’re certainly not in the Milky Way, and probably not in Andromeda either….”

“That planet up ahead,” Keith noticed, pointing to the green and blue marble they were quickly approaching, “It...it’s definitely not Earth.”

“The lion recognizes it,” Lance said, “It...it kind of feels like home.”

“Well, at least it got us away from that alien warship,” Pidge offered.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re  _ in  _ an alien warship,” Keith said, “and I don’t think I trust it.”

“Oh, are you scared?” Lance teased.

“With you at the helm? Terrified.”

Before Lance could shoot something witty back, Shiro interjected.

“Knock it off. Lance, what is the lion saying about this planet, other than it feels like home?” At this point, they were entering the atmosphere and descending.

“I...I dunno.”

He glanced around to see everyone staring at him expectantly.

“I’m serious! It stopped talking to me – ooh, wait, wait! I think it’s saying something!”

“Well, what is it?” Shiro prompted.

“It says...that Keith….has bad breath and really should pop a mint. Hunk? Buddy? You got some gum?”

“That’s it!” Keith growled, snatching Lance’s collar.

“Woah, woah, woah! Piloting an alien warship here! And besides, there’s a castle up ahead.”

That was enough to distract them. Everyone looked up as they approached a  _ massive  _ white castle, unlike anything they’d ever seen before. It was sleek and white,with four towers around the main peak. It had massive glowing blue parts and sat on top of a mountain, an old bridge leading to it. The lion gently set down in the courtyard right outside the main door into the castle, then it lowered its head and dropped its chin to let them out.

“Everyone, stay on guard and stay together,” Shiro warned as they disembarked, “I’m not about to have my crew kidnapped by aliens a second time. Let’s go.”

The rest of the team followed him, and once they exited the lion, they were amazed at the sheer size of the thing. It was  _ huge,  _ a hundred times the size of the lion, all sleek white and glowing blue panelling. They were so in awe that they hadn’t thought to check the planet’s levels for oxygen, but there didn’t seem to be any issue there.

“How do we get in?” Lance asked, staring at the massive door in front of them.

“We can’t push it open,” Keith said, “but maybe the lion can?”

Just then, the lion suddenly stood up again and roared, causing everyone to yell in surprise.

“ _ Ohhhhh my god  _ I knew it was gonna eat us _!”  _ Hunk cried as he clutched onto Lance, “This is it! We’re gonna be eaten by a giant robot lion!”

But they weren’t eaten. Not by a long shot. The door to the castle jolted, then began to slowly rise from the floor to reveal a massive entry hall that began to glow a slight blue.

“Oh. Oh.” Hunk turned and smiled sheepishly at the lion, “My bad.”

Shiro looked at the castle in front of them, at the now open doorway. It was obvious that they were being invited in, and he couldn’t help but compare it to the aliens that kept him in captivity. This felt bright, even welcoming. It was creepy, sure, but Shiro didn’t feel as though he was in any immediate danger, and he’d learned to survive on his instincts during his time as a prisoner. He glanced at the people around him, the  _ kids  _ around him. He knew Lance and Hunk were the same age as Keith – seventeen. Pidge looked younger though, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Despite only being twenty-seven, Shiro was the only adult they had, and he knew they were desperately looking for his guidance.

So, he took a deep breath and walked across the threshold, the others close behind him.

They found themselves at the foot of a large set of stairs that split in the middle. They all stood and admired the massive, dark castle.

“Hello?” Hunk called out, his voice echoing along the walls.

Everyone turned to him.

“What? Can’t hurt to see if anyone’s home.”

Just then, the sconces on the wall flickered to life, glowing a bright blue and lighting a hallway.

“I guess we go that way,” Shiro said, leading the group forward. 

They followed him through the castle, with Hunk crying out “Hello?” every so often, the word echoing through the empty halls with no reply but his own voice.The group followed the lights deep into the castle until they came into a round room, with a large, circular raised dais in the centre with circles carved into it all around the edge. In the centre was a stand and when Pidge went over to it, it had some kind of writing and glowed.

“It looks like this might be some kind of control room,” he said. 

As they huddled around the stand as Pidge and Hunk poked at it carefully, there was a sudden noise like a mechanism being released. They all jumped and turned to see one of the carved circles rising out of the ground, revealing a large cryopod, the silhouette of something inside.

Once it fully raised, the blue crystal in front of it disappeared in a pretty light, revealing a young woman with dark skin, a thick nose and lips, long, pointy ears, pink marks on her cheeks, and curly white hair in a strange yet beautiful dress that swept to her ankles, as well as a golden circlet on her head. Her eyes flew open as she gasped, reaching out and calling, “Father!”

As she stepped forward, she fell, and Lance rushed to steady her. Her eyes locked onto his, and they were very strange – the irises were a shimmery purple-blue, and she had pink pupils. She was incredibly beautiful, and Lance smiled at her.

“Are you alright?”

“What? Where am I? Who...who are you?”

The princess sounded groggy, as if she had just woken up from a long nap. Hoping to wake her up pleasantly, Lance turned up the charm.

“I’m Lance, and you’re right here in my arms.”

He ignored the groan from Hunk as the woman leaned back a bit, suddenly staring beside his head.

“Your ears…”

“Um...yes?”

“They’re  _ hideous! _ What’s wrong with them?”

“Wha-nothing!” Lance protested, “My ears are perfectly normal – hey!”

He protested because the girl seemed to wake up  _ real  _ quick, twisting Lance’s arm behind him and forcing him to his knees, facing the group.

“Who are you?” She demanded, “Where are the other Paladins? Where is my father?”

Shiro held his hands up in surrender, speaking calmly and slowly.

“My name is Takashi Shirogane, and this is my crew. I’m sorry, I don’t know anything, none of us do. All we know is that we were taken here by a giant blue lion.”

The woman’s face changed, looking shocked.

“You have the Blue Lion? How? What happened to its Paladin? Why would the Blue Lion bring you here? Unless...how long has it been?”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shiro said, “Maybe if you tell us who you are, we might be able to help, and maybe let go of our friend?”

Allura let go of Lance, who quickly scrambled to his feet and went back to the group, watching as the woman stood tall.

“My name is Princess Allura of Planet Altea, daughter of King Alfor. Does that help?”

“Sorry, Your Highness,” Shiro said as he shook his head, “I’m afraid we’ve never heard of Altea, or King Alfor.”

The princess huffed and moved past them to get to the control centre. As she put her hand over it, several blue holoscreens like in the Blue Lion showed up and she tapped on them, obviously searching for something.

“Okay,” Pidge said, watching her dainty fingers move, “so that’s how it works.”

As they were watching the princess, not being able to understand a thing she was doing, another pod beside hers began to open, revealing a middle-aged man with formal clothes much like the princess’, light skin, pointed ears, blue markings, and slicked-back orange hair to match his rather impressive ginger mustache.

When his pod opened, he was ready for action, leaping towards Lance (who was nearest). He danced out of the alien’s way easily, and the man caught himself before he stumbled.

“Princess!” The man called out, “Who are these people?”

Allura paused for a moment to smile back at the man, “Coran! Glad to see you’re here too – and I’m not sure, they said the Blue Lion brought them.”

“The Blue Lion?” Coran echoed, turning to the others, “So...you’re from another planet.”

“Yeah, from Earth” Shiro said, holding his hand out, “My name is Shiro, and this is my crew: Keith, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk. Is Coran your name?”

“That it is!” Coran said proudly, gripping Shiro’s forearm as he adjusted to do the same, “Oh, my! Is that a robot prosthetic?”

Before Shiro could answer, Allura gasped, frozen in place at the control centre. The humans almost wondered if she had  _ actually  _ been frozen, but then she started to speak softly.

“Ten thousand years...Coran, it’s been ten thousand years….”

“What?” Coran said, moving over beside Allura, “That can’t be...it can’t have been that long…?”

“That’s what it says!” Allura cried, gesturing to the screens in front of her, “We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years, and Altea and all other planets in our solar systems have been destroyed by Zarkon!”

“Zarkon,” Shiro said, suddenly growing cold, “I-I know that name. Emperor Zarkon of the Galra Empire.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Allura grumbled, “according to these records, the Galra Empire looks to have taken over most of the known universe – an empire Zarkon created, starting with Altea.”

“But...I’ve seen him,” Shiro said, flashes of a scarred, reptilian purple face in a dark red war helmet coming to his mind, eyes glowing purple, “He’s still alive, he’s still the Emperor.”

“Wait, how is that possible?” Allura asked, “He started this war ten thousand years ago! He attacked Altea!”

“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” Shiro prompted gently.

Allura frowned, looking back towards her pod, “I was in the castle, with my father. Zarkon had begun his assault on Altea, and I begged Father to form Voltron, but he said it was of no use, that no matter what, we couldn’t let Zarkon get his hands on Voltron. The last thing he told me was that he’d see me soon, if all went well.”

Allura closed her eyes, remembering her father’s kind face before everything faded to black, the sounds of explosions haunting her dreams.

Uncaring of the people in front of her, Allura began to cry, everything coming crashing down around her. She turned to Coran and he hugged her tight as she cried into his shoulder.

“It’s all gone,” she whimpered between sobs, “ _ Everything.  _ Father, Altea,  _ everyone. _ We’re all that’s left.”

The humans looked at each other uncomfortably. They all felt like they should try to comfort the princess, but none of them had any idea as to how to go about doing so. How did one console someone who had lost  _ everything _ ? So instead, they allowed Allura and Coran their moment, standing together silently as they mourned.

* * *

Far away, in the very heart of the Galra Empire, a witch with blue skin, white hair, yellow eyes, and long red markings gasped as she came out of a trance. She stood, the purple light from the crystals reflecting off of each other and onto her. She wasted no time in exiting, making her way to the throne room where she bowed before the ancient man in front of her, clad in dark armor.

“My lord Zarkon,” she said, “I bring good tidings.”

“Is the Komar Project ready?”

“No, sire, not yet. I bring other news.”

“Then rise Haggar, and tell me,” the Emperor growled.

“I felt a sudden surge of powerful Altean energy,” Haggar explained as she stood up, “As well as the reawakening of the Blue Lion. It would seem as though Alfor’s daughter lives, and she has come into possession of the Blue Lion.”

“She won’t be for long,” Zarkon said, “Find her location, and get the Commander for that sector. I will destroy the last of the Alteans and take Voltron as my own.”

* * *

A few mere minutes later, Sendak received a call from Zarkon. He stood at his command as his ruler’s face filled the screen in front of him. 

“Sendak,” Zarkon said, “The last of the Alteans, Princess Allura, has been found near your sector, as well as the Blue Lion. It is my understanding that you have found the Red Lion as well?”

“Yes, sire,” Sendak said proudly, “We found it surrounded by fire on a planet of volcanoes, but we retrieved it. Shall I destroy Princess Allura when I take the Lion?”

“No – we need her alive. Her life force is tied to Voltron and the castle, she is the key to finding the rest of the Lions. Bring her to me, and destroy everything else.”

“I fight for the glory of the Empire, and I will die for it,” Sendak declared, “No foe has ever stood in my way, and none ever will. Vrepit Sa!” He saluted Zarkon and the non-robotic members of his crew did the same. Zarkon only nodded his approval before disappearing, and Sendak barked commands to his officers.

“Set a course to Planet Arus!”

* * *

Back in the castle, Allura and Coran had calmed down some, at least enough to stop crying. They both sat on the edge of the dais, Allura leaning on Coran’s shoulder.

“I just can’t believe we are the last of the Alteans,” Allura sniffled as Coran pet her hair, “We’re all that’s left.”

_ Squeak! _

They all froze as they heard the noise, wondering if they had somehow imagined it. But then it happened again, higher-pitched.

Allura’s pod, which was still above the ground, seemed to be the source of the noise. Allura stood up and walked over, then giggled.

“Well, it looks like we’re not the last Alteans.”

She knelt down and everyone craned their necks to see, but it didn’t look like there was anyone else in the pod. Then she turned around with a smile, revealing four, pastel-coloured mice sitting in her hands.

“Blossom mice!” Coran cried, beaming as he gently pet the mice on the head, “These are a sign of good luck, you know. Seems like they snuck into your pod before we put you to sleep.”

“I can sort of hear their thoughts,” Allura said, “I think sharing a pod for ten thousand years may have created a telepathic link.”

“That is  _ so cool _ ,” Hunk gushed, “Man, I wish I could have a telepathic link with animals.”

“But then you wouldn’t ever eat meat,” Lance pointed out.

“Hmm, yeah, that’s a good point. Maybe just with one or two animals.”

“Alright,” Shiro said in a gentle but firm voice that caught everyone’s attention, “So, Zarkon is still alive, and he’s after Voltron. What do we need to do to make sure that doesn’t happen?”

“It makes sense he’d still be searching, after all these years,” Coran said, “Voltron is likely the only thing in the universe that can stop him – I just consider ourselves lucky that he didn’t find it yet.”

“He was pretty close to finding the Blue Lion,” Keith noted, “How do we know he hasn’t found the other Lions? There are five of them, right?”

“Is there a way to check?” Pidge asked.

“There is, actually,” Coran said, “King Alfor tied Voltron’s quintessence to Allura’s, so she is the key to finding the other Lions. We have to go to the bridge for that though.”

“You mean this isn’t the bridge?” Hunk asked.

Coran laughed, “Dear me  _ no _ ! This is our med bay! Does your planet not have interstellar travel yet? It must not, as I’ve never heard of  _ Earth _ .”

“We do,” Shiro said as the two aliens led them through the castle, the lights turning on automatically, “but we’ve only recently reached the edge of our solar system.”

“How interesting,” Coran mused. 

As they wandered through, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro were comparing Earth technology to Altean, while Keith hung back, watching the aliens suspiciously. Lance however, was  _ very  _ comfortable, and chatted Allura up eagerly.

“So you’re really a princess, huh?”

“Yes. Princess of Altea. Are you royalty too?”

“No,” Lance admitted with a shrug, “though I  _ am  _ considered the King of  _ Just Dance. _ ”

“‘ _Just Dance_ ’? What is that?”

“It’s a video game, y’know?” Lance prompted, “It gives you instructions on how to dance to different songs, and you get points based on how well you do it. Maybe sometime I could show you some of my special moves.” Lance winked at Allura, but she didn’t seem impressed. As he was about to try something else, the doors in front of them opened and they entered into a room much like the one from before, though this one had black walls, a small dais in the centre, and a much bigger command centre towards the back of the room.

Allura stepped onto the dais and the room lit up, two hand-sensors rising from the floor to meet her. She placed her hands on them and closed her eyes. A moment later, they were surrounded by stars and planets, the room dimmed to allow the blue glow of the constellations to wash over them.

“This is amazing,” Keith whispered.

“Is that the Black Lion?” Shiro asked, pointing to a planet right in front of Allura that held images of both the Blue and Black Lions.

“Yes, it’s here in the castle,” Coran said, “But it can only be accessed with the other four lions.”

“So these are coordinates,” Pidge realized, adjusting his glasses as he leaned in to get a closer look.

“That’s right!” Coran said, “Very clever of you!”

“So how do we get these Lions?” Keith asked, “It looked like the Blue Lion only had space for one pilot – are there really only five pilots for Voltron?”

“Technically, they’re called Paladins,” Allura said as her eyes searched the different stars, “They’re warriors of Voltron. And yes, there is one Paladin for every Lion – the Paladin’s quintessence must reflect the Lion’s, the bond they form is something greater than mere science can explain.”

“Yeah!” Lance suddenly piped up, “I kinda felt that with the Blue Lion, like, we were able to read each other’s minds!”

Allura smiled, “Yes, exactly. Paladins are destined for their Lions. Now, I know I do not know any of you,  _ but  _ I am able to read your quintessence, and I can confidently assign Lions to you.”

“Woah,  _ wait _ !” Hunk suddenly cried, “ _ We  _ are the Paladins? I thought you said that their pilots were destined or whatever!”

“What do you think brought you all here?” Coran asked with a laugh, “Chance? By the Ancients  _ no _ !”

“There’s no such thing as destiny,” Keith said, “It’s just how things work out, just chances. Pidge, you can back me up on this, right? Some math shit?”

“I...I dunno,” Pidge admitted, “The chances of me, Lance, and Hunk all sneaking out the same night Shiro crash-landed and coming in to rescue him at the  _ same time  _ as Keith, who had been out in the desert searching for the Blue Lion? Not to mention the fact that it was only once Hunk used  _ my  _ readings to create that Geiger counter that _Keith_ was able to hone in on it, and  _ Lance  _ was the only one who was able to activate the Lion. And _Shiro_ , he had been taken hostage by aliens for  _ a  _ year _ ,  _ so he was able to lead us. The chances of all of that lining up in the way it did...well, it’s not even one in a million. More like one in a trillion!”

“Math is on the side of destiny,” Lance said with a shrug, “Who knew? And wait, Keith – didn’t you say there was a prophecy on the cave wall? With the star map?”

“I figured it was planned,” Keith protested, “How the hell was I supposed to know that Shiro somehow managed to escape?”

“Uh yeah, what’s up with that prophecy anyways?” Hunk asked, “Like, how does that work?”

“Well, Altea had master alchemists and astrologists,” Coran explained, “Altean society thrived on the balance of magic and science. When Alfor sent the Lions away, they each carried a prophecy as to how and when the Lions would be found. It seems that over the years, the local population had their own prophets that managed to dip into the destiny of the Lions and mark it down themselves. Truly fascinating.”

“...Right,” Shiro said, honestly still trying to wrap his head around it, and he was sure that the kids were much the same, “So...you said you’re able to read our essences and figure out which Lion we’re meant to be Paladin for?’

“Yes!” Allura assured, turning her attention to Shiro, “First, the Black Lion – the decisive head of Voltron. The Black Paladin is someone who is a born leader, someone who is in control and followed without hesitation. Shiro,  _ you  _ will be the Black Paladin.”

Shiro nodded, unsurprised. If he and the four others from Earth were meant to be the Paladins, it would make sense if Shiro was meant to lead them. Though he was not overly excited about being directly responsible for four children. Part of his hair had already turned white from the stress – he didn’t need any more grey.

“The Green Lion,” Allura continued, waving her hand so the stars turned, centering on the Lion, “Is inquisitive. Its Paladin must have great intellect and daring – Pidge, you will be the Green Paladin.”

“Cool!” Pidge chirped, smiling as the image of the Green Lion came to rest in front of his face.

“Now, the Blue Lion is known as the friendliest, so its Paladin must be loyal, sympathetic, and have a penchant for fun.”

“So, by ‘fun’,” Lance prompted, “Do you mean an incredible flirt? Because I think I’ve got that nailed down!”

Allura just looked confused for a moment before she moved on.

“The Yellow Lion is caring and kind, and is selfless. Its Paladin must have a mighty heart. For that, Hunk will pilot Yellow.”

“I still think this is insane,” Hunk mumbled, poking at the hologram of the Lion nervously, as though it would bite him.

“Finally, the Red Lion. It is temperamental and agile – it requires a Paladin that relies on their instincts. Keith, you will pilot the Red Lion.:”

Keith grinned as the image of the Lion came to rest in front of him, “Nice.”

Then, the images of the Lions started to move, startling them. They each flew towards the centre, above Allura. There, they converged into Voltron, filling the room with light before breaking apart.

“Okay, I’m looking forward to  _ that, _ ” Lance said, “When are we doing that? The giant robot dude?”

“Voltron can only be formed with all five Lions,” Coran informed them, “As we said, the Black Lion is here, as well as the Blue Lion.”

“I have the locations of the Green and Yellow Lions,” Allura said, “But I can’t seem to find the Red Lion just yet. I’m sure we can find it soon, and it’s just a glitch in the castle – after all, it has been idle for ten thousand years. It’s sure to have some issues.”

“But no worries!” Coran said confidently, “I’ll have this castle up and running in no time. They didn’t call me the ‘Coranic’ for nothing! You know...because it sounds...like mechanic?”

Coran looked at their blank faces and Lance chuckled a bit, but it was very clearly a pity laugh.

“Well, it sounds better in Altean.”

“Oh yeah,” Pidge said, “How come you guys are speaking perfect English anyways? There’s  _ no way  _ our modern English would be the same as your language ten thousand years ago.”

“Of course not! That would be impossible,” Allura said, “We’re all speaking Altean right now. Each of the Lions and the castle all have intergalactic translators, so it allows you to speak in any language you wish, and it translates it so everyone can understand it. Some things just don’t translate directly, and you can’t read the languages.”

“Wait!” Lance said, sounding rather excited, “You mean that I can speak  _ any language  _ I want, and it’ll make it sound like English to these guys, and Altean to you?”

“Yes!” Coran said, “The beauty of intergalactic translators!”

“Oh, thank god,” Lance said, his voice taking on a slightly different cadence and slipping into a Cuban accent, “I’m never speaking English again. It is Spanish from here on out!”

“Is there any way we can turn the translator off?” Keith asked.

“Why?” Shiro asked, “You only know one language.”

“I think it’d be easier to tune Lance out if I can’t understand what he’s saying.”

“Hey!” Lance protested, “I bet you’re used to tuning out information, huh?”

“Alright,” Shiro said, already sounding tired, “that’s enough. Princess Allura, where are the Yellow and Green Lions?”

“I’m not sure of the names of the planets,” Allura said, “But they’re in different star systems. I can open up two wormholes, but I can’t keep them open for long.”

“Alright,” Shiro said, deciding to take charge and just...accept it, “So is there a second mode of transportation we have access to? Lance can take someone in his lion, but the others will need an alternate way to get to the second planet.”

“The castle is fully-stocked with operational pods,” Coran said, “I’d have to do a quick check-up before you took off, but they should be good to go!”

“Okay, so here’s the plan,” Shiro declared, “Lance and Hunk – you’ll go get the Yellow Lion. Pidge and I will take a pod to go get Green. Keith, you stay here and wait to see if we can find the location of the Red Lion.”

“I can only keep the wormhole open for two vargas,” Allura warned them, “So you’re going to have to be quick.”

“Uh, what’s a varga?” Hunk asked.

“A measure of time,” Coran replied, “You know, like a tick or a dobosh?”

“What, like a second?” Pidge prompted.

“As in, second place?” Allura asked.

“No, like a second,” Lance said, “Like,  _ one Mississippi, two Mississippi… _ you know?”

“What’s a Mississippi?” Coran asked.

“Okay,” Shiro said, stopping them before they could tumble down a rabbit hole of random words and concepts, “Coran, can you give us a timer for these two...vargas? We can figure it out with our Earth time measurements.”

“Oh yes, I can absolutely do that!” Coran assured, “Now, let’s go get that pod set up!”

Soon, the two ships were flying out of the castle, two small wormholes like the one they had come through opening before them.

“So remember to get in, get your Lion, and get out,” Allura told them.

“And I’ve looked into the planets!” Coran said cheerfully, “They’re very peaceful planets, so worst comes to worst, you’ll have a pleasant place to live out the rest of your lives! Good luck!”

The four in the ships began to protest because  _ hey _ , that’s kind of a big bomb to drop right before they jumped into a wormhole to mysterious planets with no weapons or backup. Soon though, the wormholes swallowed them and their communications cut off.

“So…” Allura said with a smile, turning to Keith, “What do you think of the castle so far?”

Keith shrugged, looking out the windows at the planet around them, “It’s cool. Big.”

Allura nodded, sighing internally. Of course the one left behind would be the least social of the bunch.

Pidge and Shiro landed gracefully on the side of a river on a planet that seemed to be filled with jungles and rivers. The pod showed healthy oxygen levels in the atmosphere, so Pidge and Shiro got out of the pod, breathing in the fresh air.

“Man, I almost forgot what trees smell like,” Shiro joked, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a forest.”

“Same here,” Pidge said, “My family used to drag me along on camping trips, but I’ve been at the Garrison for a while, so I guess I’m used to the desert. Though, uh, I guess it’s different for you…” PIdge said nervously, glancing up at Shiro as they walked through the desert, following the locator Coran had given them.

“Yeah, the desert is really nice compared to Galra prisons. Galra cuisine beats Garrison food any day though.”

“Really?”

Shiro laughed, “No. Everything tasted like dirt. The  _ air  _ here tastes better than the food I ate for a year.”

Just then, they came up to a river, with a carved wooden boat beached at the riverbank. Pidge pointed at the bow of the boat, which had a long shaft with the top carved like a lion’s head.

“No way…” Pidge whispered.

“Hello.”

Both humans yelped in surprise and Pidge clutched into Shiro, hiding behind him to see a giant, yellow-ish sloth walking on its hind legs. It smiled lazily at them, then pointed slowly at the glowing symbol on the locator.

“Vol...tron?” They asked slowly.

“Uh, yeah,” Pidge said, peeking out from Shiro, “We’re uh, we’re Paladins.”

The sloth nodded before walking over to the boat and pushing it out with a long stick, holding it still for them as it beckoned the two over.

Pidge looked up to Shiro, who only shrugged.

“Hey, I was taken prisoner by alien imperialists and forced to fight in an intergalactic gladiator ring - this is a walk in the park.”

Shiro got into the canoe towards the back, and after a moment, Pidge followed, sitting in the centre as the giant sloth pushed away and began to slowly push them down the river. It was very peaceful, just like Coran said, with small creatures singing softly. The two humans awed at the beautiful world around them, and as they entered into a cave that glowed green, Pidge laughed.

“I wonder if Lance and Hunk are having as good a time as us.”

Lance and Hunk screamed as they avoided lasers, evading certain death.

The planet that Allura had sent them to seemed to be occupied by the Galra, as they were being shot at by purple lasers from the ground. It looked like the Galra had set up some sort of mining operation, which did not bode well for them.

“I thought Coran said this planet was peaceful!” Hunk cried as he clung onto Lance’s chair.

“Yeah, well, maybe the translators are glitching too.” They both grit their teeth as they were hit, though the Lion seemed undamaged.

“I can’t stay out here for long,” Lance said, scanning the area for a way out.

“I wonder if they even know the Lion is here,” Hunk whimpered, “or if they’re just mining for regular ore. Do you think they know?”

“Guess we’ll find out. OKay, so I’m gonna drop you. While you get your Lion, I’ll cover for you, but you better hurry.”

“ _ What?!” _

“I can’t exactly get out and go with you!” Lance yelled back at his friend as he smashed a fighter jet with the Lion’s claws, “Just get out and find your Lion, then help me, and we’ll get the heck outta here.” Lance landed on the ground and ran forward towards the entrance of the mine, which thankfully looked very empty.

“But-but what if it doesn’t work?” Hunk cried, “What if I’m not the right Paladin and we get stranded? What if it doesn’t like me? I don’t know how to pilot – how will I even get it in the air? What if I start crying?! Oh my god too late, I’m already crying!”

“No time for questions! Tuck and roll, Hunk!”

Before Hunk could protest, Lance slammed one of the controls and Hunk suddenly flew back, tumbling and turning before the Lion stopped, opened its mouth, and spit him out on the ground like a hairball. He tumbled and rolled for a good few metres before hitting a rock and flying forward. He looked back to see Lance already taking to the sky, trying to destroy as many of the triangular laser plants he could.

Hunk ran to the mouth of the cave and saw a large platform that seemed to be on a mechanical ramp. Deciding not to even bother with the controls, Hunk went straight for the control panel, lifting it away to expose the wires, mumbling to himself as he worked – an old habit he picked up as a kid.

“Oh yeah,  _ sure,  _ just drop me off on an alien planet. That’s cool, man – it’s only inhabited by a bunch of mean purple aliens that want to kill us, but whatever. Just ignore all that and go connect with a giant, magical robot  _ cat _ ! Easy peasy, right? Makes  _ total sense! _ So now I’m working on alien controls that kinda function like Earth stuff and I’m just wondering  _ how the hell Lance managed to talk me into this. _ ”

As he connected the wires, sparks flew, and the lift began to move downward slowly, heading into the darkness. As it went deeper, carvings of Lions and other figures appeared around him, each glowing a bright yellow as he passed them. He began to feel a pulling in his gut, tugging him deeper down as the carvings became more intricate and condensed. Soon, he reached the bottom, but found himself surrounded by rock. On one of the walls though, was a massive circle pattern, almost like a target. He almost felt vibrations coming from behind the wall, knew the Lion was behind it.

“Okay,” he said to himself, “but how am I gonna bust through that…?”

He looked around the cavern, spotting a massive ride-on drill. 

Hunk grinned.

Up above, Lance was doing his best to stay alive.

His time in the Garrison may as well have been spent basket weaving, because whatever he learned was useless in that moment. He had his reflexes and basic knowledge – that all had been drilled into him. But this was  _ nothing  _ like all the simulators he’d been in. The controls were completely different, and he knew that if he crashed, there would be no do-over. He wouldn’t get chewed out by Iverson, he would  _ die. _

Oddly enough, that morbid thought kept him present. Lance was careful and did his best not to take any risks, avoiding as much fire as he could. However, his thoughts were very preoccupied with the idea that his best friend was alone in a mine with nothing to defend him. Lance wanted nothing more than to be down there to help him, to keep him safe, but the best way to keep him safe was to distract all these alien combatants. 

But there were just  _ so many  _ of them. Lance knew that he was in a powerful war machine, but it wasn’t much use if he barely knew how to use it. If he was a better pilot, he could save Hunk. 

As he was shooting down the fighters around him, Lance saw a purple laser fire at the mine. He watched helplessly as it hit the entrance, filling it in with rock.

“Hunk!” Lance cried, his blood running cold. He hoped that Hunk hadn’t been near the rocks, but even if he was ok, he was trapped, with no way out.

Lance was rocked out of his thoughts as he was blasted by a laser. 

He wouldn’t be of much help to Hunk if he was dead.

Shiro and Pidge meanwhile, were facing problems of their own. 

“I always wanted to be a pilot, y’know, but I just wasn’t suited for it. I don’t really know any basic flying techniques, like,  _ at all,  _ so I don’t really know how I’m supposed to fly this thing.”

Pidge was rambling as they passed through a tunnel, worrying himself and wringing his hands.

“I kinda know how to drive, but based on watching Lance and everyone else in the Garrison in the simulator, it doesn’t seem anything like that. Well, the Lions look different from the simulator, and still different from cars. Not that I’m an  _ amazing  _ driver – I’m only fifteen, and my dad took me out a couple of times. My grandma has a ride-on mower though, I’m pretty good on that. But that’s nothing like a magic alien warship! How am I supposed to fly this thing? What if I’m too short to reach the controls?!”

“Pidge,” Shiro said, reaching forward and putting a hand on his shoulder with a smile, “I know you’re nervous, but you don’t need to be. You know, my captain on the Kerberos mission was a brilliant man, and a lot of the advice he gave to me I still carry with me. One of the things he said was that if you were too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.”

Pidge smiled at Shiro, “Yeah, he did always say that.”

Shiro opened his mouth, looking confused, but before he could say anything, they came out of the tunnel and appeared at the bottom of a massive stepped temple, not unlike the Mayan temples back on Earth. 

It was a dark grey stone, covered entirely in thick vines. The giant sloth pulled their boat to the side and they were able to get out. Pidge and Shiro stood before it, staring in awe at the massive structure. As Pidge placed a hand on the rock, the carvings began to glow green.

“So...I guess this is it,” Pidge said, feeling a pull in his stomach.

“Go,” Shiro said, nudging him gently, “Be great.”

Pidge beamed at him before scrambling up the side of the temple, climbing the vines to the top. As they did, more and more of the temple lit up, brightening the entire area. 

Soon, Pidge reached the top, out of breath and feeling every cell in his body  _ vibrating.  _ But...there was nothing. Just a mound of vines at the top of the temple.

He suddenly heard a noise not unlike purring, and looked down to see green light coming from beneath the vines. There was a gap, and he grinned as he jumped through them.

Shiro waited, watching the glow of the temple begin to fade. Just as he was starting to worry about Pidge, there came a deep rumbling in the ground. Shiro stumbled, then looked up to see the top of the temple explode as a massive green lion shot out, its eyes glowing yellow. Shiro grinned, and felt a strange swell of pride.

Lance meanwhile was having a very difficult time. 

“Well Blue, this may be a really short run,” he told the Lion as he continued to take blows from the enemy, not good enough nor experienced enough to dodge them, “I just hope Hunk is alright, because I sure as heck can’t help him.”

Lance cried out as he was hit with something especially strong, knocking his Lion on the ground. They were utterly surrounded by enemy fighters, and Lance simply couldn’t hold them off.

“Sorry Blue,” he said, his chin trembling, “Looks like you’re gonna need another Paladin.”

Before any more could strike though, he felt a deep rumbling in the ground before a giant yellow lion broke the surface, taking the brunt of the blow, and looking like it barely took any damage. It flew forward and did a belly flop on some fighters, crushing them under its body.

“Hey man, ya miss me?” Hunk’s voice called over the comms.

“Hunk!” Lance cried, “Aw man, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice. How’re you liking the Lion?”

“I get why you like it,” Hunk joked, thrusting forward, feeling the Lion move with him, “This thing isn’t very fast, but it more than makes up for it in armor. I’m loving it!”

Just then, a holoscreen of Allura appeared in front of both of them.

“ _ Hurry up! _ ” She told them, “ _ I can only keep the wormhole open for a couple of doboshes! _ ”

“On it,” Lance said, thrusting up into the sky. Hunk soon followed, though he bumped into a tower on the way up, scratching it badly.

“I’m gonna have to get used to this piloting thing,” He said as Lance laughed.

“And I’m gonna kill Coran for his faulty information!”

The two quickly outran the fighters, jumping into the wormholes and appearing back on the planet, the castle before them.

The Lions parked themselves in each of their respective hangars. Both of them found their way back to the bridge, where the rest of the group was waiting.

“Oh hey guys!” Pidge greeted cheerfully, “How was the trip?”

“Terrible!” Hunk cried.

“Yeah!” Lance agreed, “Coran sent us to a planet that was being mined by the Galra! We almost  _ died _ !”

“Where did you guys end up?” Hunk asked.

“On a really cool jungle planet,” Pidge said smugly, “I think I got a tan.”

“You were gone for  _ two hours! _ ” Lance yelled.

“Yeah, and I look like I went to Jamaica.”

“Alright,” Shiro said, interjecting before they could continue fighting, “So Coran, Princess – do we have any information on the Red Lion?”

“Yes!” Coran chirped, “So, good news: we found the Red Lion’s location.”

“And...the bad news…?” Shiro prompted.

“It’s aboard the Galran ship heading towards Arus. But! More good news – we’re Arus!”

“ _ What _ ?” The Paladins cried.

“There’s a Galra ship coming here?” Hunk asked, his hands fidgeting already, “Like, looking for us?”

“How long do we have?!” Lance cried.

Just then, there came a pleasant ping and an automated voice said **“Incoming call request from Commander Sendak”** . The Paladins looked at each other nervously before Shiro nodded at Allura. She nodded back before swiping her hand, accepting the call.

A giant purple bat filled the screen.

Well, it wasn’t really a bat, but it  _ looked  _ like one. Big, fluffy ears, a wrinkled nose, fangs, and head covered in purple fur. One of its yellow, pupil-less eyes was replaced with a red prosthetic, and he snarled as he spoke.

“ _ I am Commanda Sendak of the Galra Empire. Hand over the Voltron Lions and Princess Allura, or you will be destroyed. You have one varga.” _

Then the screen disappeared, leaving a tense silence on the bridge.

“Okay,” Shiro said carefully, “No one panic.”

“Really?” Hunk said, “Because the big scary bat guy just said he would destroy us.”

“We can fight him,” Keith suggested, “We have Voltron.”

“Uh,  _ no _ ,” Hunk said, “We only have four working Lions, and we barely know how to fly them!”

“Technically,” Pidge spoke up, “we only have  _ three  _ working Lions – Black is still locked up.”

“Thank you, Pidge!” Hunk said, gesturing wildly at the smallest Paladin, “THREE working Lions and a castle that’s over ten thousand years old and glitching. Right now is the  _ perfect  _ time to panic!”

“Yeah!” Lance agreed, “We’re basically defenseless here, just sitting ducks.”

“Wait!” Allura spoke up, “I just remembered we have a shield – a particle barrier!”

“Girl,” Lance said, immediately smirking and changing his tone, “you’ve already activated my particle ba–”

“ _ Lance, _ ” Shiro warned, effectively stopping him. He sighed and looked back at the princess, “How safe is this particle barrier?”

“It’s hard to tell,” Coran admitted, “Ten thousand years ago, it was almost impenetrable! But, well, I don’t doubt that Galra weapons technology has advanced significantly.”

“Panic?” Hunk squeaked.

“No,” Shiro said firmly, “We just need to figure out a plan, and quickly. 

“I say we jump ship and live to fight another day,” Lance said, “We can come back for the Red Lion when we’re more prepared.”

“Yeah, I like that plan!” Hunk agreed, “We can’t form Voltron, but maybe we can form a worm, or a snake with the Lions! To go through the wormhole!”

“I like that,” Lance said.

“We can’t just abandon Arus!” Pidge protested, “There’s no telling whether they’ll destroy Arus before coming after us anyways! We have to help!”

“Or, consider this,” Hunk offered, “if we run, Sendak could follow us like what happened when we left Earth. Once he lure him away, we form the worm-snake-thingamajig and  _ ssssss  _ out of there!”

“But Pidge is right,” Keith argued, “This Sendak guy seems pretty ruthless – he’ll probably destroy the planet and chase after us again. Staying is our  _ only  _ option.”

“Oh, great!”Lance cried, “So we can all die here before doing anything useful. We’ll be able to blame Keith for that!”

“Hey!” Keith protested, turning to Lance and advancing on him, “I’m not the one that put us through a random wormhole and got us stuck in this situation!”

“Maybe I’ll stick  _ you _ in a wormhole!” Lance yelled, getting up in Keith’s face.

“Enough!” Shiro said, moving between the two before it could turn physical, “We’re all a team here, so  _ everyone  _ should weigh in on this. Princess Allura, Coran – you’ve dealt with the Galra before, more so than the rest of us. What do  _ you  _ suggest?”

Allura glanced around at all the faces looking at her, waiting for her suggestion. 

“I-I don’t know,” she managed, “I just wish my father could weigh in on this.”

“He might be able to,” Coran suggested softly, “Alfor stored his memories in the castle before we left...I can’t promise they won’t be corroded, but he could still be there.”

“Take me to him,” Allura said, stepping down from her dais, “Paladins, we’ll be back soon.”

“Please don’t be long,” Shiro called, glancing at the tense kids around him. He hadn’t taught in over a year, and he was certainly out of his element here.

Coran led Allura deep into the ship, to a wide room with a very small dais in the centre. As she approached, the room changed – she was no longer in the castle, but in the gardens by the pond, where she spent many hours reading and playing. As she turned around to stare in awe, a familiar voice shook her.

“Hello, daughter.”

Allura turned back around to see a hologram of her father, as regal as ever. She rushed forward and hugged him tightly, thankful for the small amount of mass granted to the hologram.

“Oh, Father!” She cried, nuzzling into his shoulder, “I feel so lost. One of the Galra commanders is after us, and we’re not sure whether we should run, or stand and fight. These Paladins, they’re so inexperienced, and only half of them are pilots. But this might be our only chance to get the Red Lion before it reaches Zarkon, and I can’t have another planet destroyed by that monster. But...I have no idea what to do. I’m not ready to lead these people, I’m not ready for any of this.”

“I know,” Alfor said, petting her hair gently, “So few leaders are ever ready to lead, I only wish that I could take this burden from you. This is my fault – I was wrong to send Voltron away. This war did not need to rage on for ten thousand years because I feared Zarkon. If I had not sent Voltron away, it could have been formed sooner, and this war need not have continued for so long. But now you must lead.”

“But how am I to do so?” Allura asked, looking up at the blue face of her father with watery eyes, “What should we do? Do we stay and fight? Or run?”

“This is your decision to make now,” Alfor said, “But I see now that I was wrong – it is better to fight and chance a win, then to run and have no chance at all.”

Allura nodded, “I understand. Thank you, Father.”

“I shall see you soon,” he said with a smile, the gardens turning back into the cold metal room. She took a breath before walking out of the room, where Coran waited for her.

“I know what we have to do.”


	4. Form Voltron!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting a little too obsessed with this abfhbghrjgbhjbfwe I just love this fic so much. Also I'm watching Bridgerton and half of my time is spent thinking "this is an amazing show I love it so much" and the other half I think "ok but what if it was klance"

Shiro had always wanted kids.

He’d grown up an only child, so he always loved the idea of a big family. Adam had agreed with him, though neither of them had been ready for kids. They were young and Shiro was essentially at the height of his astro-explorer career, while Adam was just getting his teaching career started. Legally speaking, Shiro  _ was  _ Keith’s guardian and had adopted him, but the two always regarded each other more as brothers. Regardless, Shiro just wasn’t ready to be a dad.

So why was he having to physically keep Lance and Keith away from each other while trying to calm everyone down? 

Adam’s sister in law, Lily, was a kindergarten teacher, and once compared handling kids to herding cats. Shiro finally understood  _ why,  _ but didn’t understand  _ how  _ he ended up like this. He was the youngest pilot in history to have been nominated for the Carl Sagan Memorial Award, was one of the first humans to step foot on Pluto’s farthest moon, and had survived being imprisoned by an imperialistic alien race – how come he was suddenly playing babysitter?

Just as Shiro was debating looking for Allura, the doors opened and the two Alteans stepped through.

Allura had changed from her long, flowing dress into a tight white space suit with blue, purple, and pink accents. There were cuffs around her wrists and padding on her hips, and her long hair was tied back in a tight bun.

Thankfully, their appearance was enough to quiet the group, Lance becoming frozen in place, his eyes on Allura.

“Have you made your decision, Princess?” Shiro asked.

“Yes,” Allura said firmly, standing straighter, “The five of you were not brought here by accident. Fate brought each of us here for a reason, and that reason is clear – you five have the quintessence to mirror the Lions of Voltron: the universe’s only hope to fight Zarkon. We cannot dare to call ourselves defenders if we run from our first fight. We must stay and fight. We shall take back the Red Lion. And we shall form Voltron. Now, let’s get you Paladins some proper equipment.”

Allura’s speech was simple yet rousing, and the promise of cool new tech was enough to get them on board, even if only for the moment. She and Coran led the five humans through the Castle, to a room where the Paladin armor sat in cases, on display for them. 

They each found their colours, admiring the armor. Hunk frowned as he looked at his, putting his hands beside his hips to measure, then holding them up to the armor.

“Do you have these in different sizes?” Lance asked, noticing Hunk’s discomfort, “We don’t exactly all have the same body type.”

“The Paladin suits are meant to expand and shrink based on the wearer,” Coran said proudly, “So one size fits all!”

“You sure?” Hunk asked, “One size is really gonna fit both me  _ and  _ Pidge?”

“Why don’t you put them on?” Allura suggested, waving her hand as the doors to the cases opened, revealing changing rooms beyond them. The Paladins quickly stepped into their respective pods and donned the armor.

After a couple of minutes, they began to step out, admiring how each of them looked in the armor that did, in fact, fit perfectly. And they looked fly as all hell.

Once they all stepped out, Allura summoned a table from the floor, four hand-held devices sitting on it, each colour-coded.

“These will be your bayards,” Allura explained, “They will take the form of the weapon that best suits you.”

“They can change shape,” Coran said, “Although that comes with practice.”

Shiro frowned as the other four grabbed their bayards, “Is there not one for the Black Lion?”

“I apologize Shiro, but the Black Bayard is...missing,” Allura said, looking away from him, “But we can surely find another weapon to suit you in the castle’s armory – we will not send you into battle unarmed.”

“Sounds good.”

The other four meanwhile, watched in awe as their bayards changed in their hands.

Hunk’s turned into a massive bazooka that dragged him down, clunking to the ground before he could adjust to the weight. Keith’s turned into a broadsword, and he grinned as he swished it around. Lance’s changed to a rifle and he chuckled as he looked through the scope on it. Pidge’s meanwhile morphed into a small spade, the end of it glowing green.

“Aww,” Lance teased as he lowered his gun, “it’s a cute little bayard.”

Pidge scowled up at him before poking his side with his bayard. Upon contact, it sent arcs of green electricity racing up Lance’s body and he tensed, falling back with a yelp.

“Yeah,” Pidge said as he admired his bayard, “it is pretty cute.”

“They’re not exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer,” Allura whispered to Coran as she watched them play, “Are they?”

“No. But they are the universe’s only hope.”

“I suppose they are. Shiro!” She said, catching his attention, “Come with me – I’ll take you to the armory.”

“Yes, Princess.”

He followed her out of the room as Coran inspected each bayard, offering advice and information on each one before the door shut behind them.

The two walked down the halls silently, though it became awkward quickly, and Allura wished to fill it.

“So…” She said, “You...met Zarkon?”

“No,” Shiro replied, “Well, not that I remember. I don’t remember a lot of my time in captivity, which is probably for the best. When you first said his name though, I did remember seeing different commanders call him, hearing people talk to him. I didn’t understand most of what people said to me – it’s not like anyone spoke any Earth languages – but I heard his name a lot. Who’s Vrepit Sa by the way?”

“Vrepit Sa?” Allura echoed, “That’s not a person, it’s an ancient Galra salute. It’s loose translation is something like ‘killing strike’, but it holds a lot of other meanings that I’m sure have changed over time.”

“Hm. I was wondering why everyone stopped talking after they said it. I figured that Vrepit Sa was just the name of an asshole no one liked.”

Allura giggled and smiled up at Shiro, “Really?”

Shiro shrugged, “Hey, I had to entertain myself somehow.”

“How long were you in captivity?” She asked gently.

“About a year. I escaped only a few days ago. I crashed near my home on Earth before the others found me.”

“...What is a ‘year’? And a ‘day’?”

Shiro chuckled, “I guess those don’t translate directly. Well, they’re measures of time. A day on Earth means how long it takes for Earth to make one full rotation on its axis, and a year is how long it takes for the Earth to move around our Sun. There are twenty-four hours in a day, three-hundred and sixty-five days in a year. We have an extra day every four years though.”

“How fascinating,” Allura mused, opening up the armor to reveal racks and racks of weapons – from guns to staves to knives, “Well, take your pick.”

Shiro began looking around the armory, browsing through the weapons. As he came to the swords, he selected a long, slightly curved blade with dual hooks on the end of it, as well as a white leather pommel. He swung it around a few times, strangely comfortable with the weight of it. As he practiced a small thrust, his head ached, and he suddenly had a memory flash before his eyes.

_ A purple sword, a purple arena, a large alien in front of him _ .

“Shiro, are you alright?”

Shiro had frozen in place, and he glanced over to see Allura by the door, looking concerned.

“I-I’m okay,” Shiro assured as he took a deep breath and lowered the sword, “Just a bad memory, is all. I think this sword is really similar to the one I had when I was in Zarkon’s gladiator arena.”

“ _ You  _ were a gladiator?”

Shiro scoffed as he looked at the sword, “If I can really be called that – from what I remember, I was just offered up as something to be killed for the reigning champion. I’ve got  _ no  _ clue how I survived for so long, but I know it wasn’t easy.”

“Well, if you managed to survive Zarkon’s fighting rings,” Allura said with a smile, “then I have faith in your skills. Come, we should go back to the others.”

* * *

Back on the bridge, the other Paladins and Coran were looking at a hologram of the ship, as well as a hologram of the Red Lion.

“These ships look massive,” Hunk mumbled, poking at it tentatively.

“Oh, they are!” Coran assured, “Galra battleships have always been large and powerful, with identical hallways that look like a maze to any outsiders!”

“So how the hell am I supposed to find my Lion?” Keith grumbled.

“Remember that energy in the canyon?” Lance asked.

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Yeah? The one you said I was insane for feeling?”

“And I was right, you were insane. But! It’s the same energy, you just feel this pull in your gut.”

“Yeah!” Hunk agreed, “You just have to listen to your instincts.”

“And it may not be what it seems,” Pidge warned, “Mine was trapped under a mountain of roots. Even if it doesn’t make sense, you just have to follow your gut.”

“Right, I’m good at that.”

Just then, Allura and Shiro came back, a lead bracelet on Shiro’s left hand.

“What’s that?” Keith asked, nodding at the bracelet.

“It’s my weapon,” Shiro explained, taking the bracelet off, transforming in his hand into his sword.

“Your bayards were made with the same materials as your armor,” Allura explained, “They have the unique ability to be stored within the armor and be called at will. Unfortunately, no other Altean weapons are able to do that,  _ but _ they can change form to be transported easily.”

“I’m not big on jewellery, but I think I’ll get used to it,” Shiro joked as he put the bracelet back on, “So, any thoughts on a plan?”

“Well,” Coran began as he waved his hands, blowing up the image of the battleship, “Galra battleships are built to destroy and annihilate. There are several laser cannons and weapons all along its sides, and each vessel can contain a couple hundred fighter drones. They’re easy enough to deal with, but the issue is the ion cannon.”

“Yeah, the ship we faced when we left Earth had one,” Lance recalled, “That didn’t look too welcoming.”

“It’s not,” Allura agreed, “It’s a powerful weapon, capable of destroying most vessels with a single hit. Thankfully, we have our particle barrier–” Shiro shot Lance a warning look “–but we have no clue as to how long it will hold against the new weaponry. We need to disable that cannon.”

“Right.” Shiro covered his mouth with his metal hand as he thought for a moment, the rest of the team waiting patiently until he spoke again.

“Hunk – what’s the Yellow Lion like?”

“Big,” Hunk replied, “and tough. It’s not fast, but it can take a beating.”

Shiro nodded, “Right. Coran, If we were to sneak onto the ship, where would be the best place to do it?”

“Here.” Coran moved to holograph to show the side of the ship, “There’s a blindspot between these cannons, and the metal is thinnest on the side.”

“How big is the blind spot? Could we fit a Lion there?”

“Not likely. I’d suggest here instead.” Coran turned the hologram so it showed the top, towards the back of the ship, “What are you thinking?”

“The Galra know we have the Yellow and Blue Lions,” Shiro explained, circling the hologram as everyone watched, “But since there were no Galra outposts on Green’s planet, no one knows about that. I think the best plan is to use Yellow and Blue as bait – Hunk and Lance will pilot the Lions and pretend to give themselves up. Keith and I will ride with Pidge and he can drop us here, where we’ll infiltrate the ship. Lance, Blue is pretty agile, so you’ll take the fire while Hunk deals with the ion cannon. The three of us will help Keith find Red. Once we do, we all pull back so we can retrieve the Black Lion and form Voltron.” Shiro paused and faced the others, “Any questions?”

Simply on  _ instinct,  _ the other four Paladins straightened, and the three aside from Keith saluted as they responded, “No, sir!”

“Good. Coran, Allura, will you have contact with us once we leave the castle?”

“Yes,” Coran replied, “your helmets and the Lions both have connections to our communications.”

“Great – communications with our base is a huge help. If there’s any issues, make sure to let us know. Now Paladins, let’s get to the Lions.”

“Yes, sir!”

Shiro led the other Paladins out of the bridge and down to the different hangars, leaving Allura and Coran behind.

“Did you see that?” Allura whispered once the doors closed behind the humans.

“I did!” Coran said, as shocked and impressed as Allura, “It looks as though they even  _ saluted  _ him! He must be a military leader. Just like –”

“Let’s just hope he’s better than the last Black Paladin,” Allura interrupted bitterly.

“Well, only time will tell, Princess.”

* * *

Soon the three Lions were flying out. Once they left the atmosphere, Pidge steered Green far under, hoping to loop back around and take the ship by surprise.

In an effort to distract, Coran opened a communication line for Hunk and Lance. They quickly connected to Sendak.

Despite only seeing him moments before, they were still frightened by his strange appearance. He was easily the most “alien” of the aliens they had met so far, but it was also because it felt more  _ real. _ They weren’t sitting in the castle, protected – they were flying towards him in their battleships.

“We are Lance and Hunk, the Blue and Yellow Paladins,” Lance explained, doing his best to sound confident, “We surrender our Lions.”

Sendak grinned, showing off a pair of wicked canines, his yellow eyes glinting in the light, “Wonderful. Activate the tractor beam.”

Their line with Sendak cut and they saw a purple glow at the bow of the ship, lower than the ion cannon.

“That must be the tractor beam!” Hunk warned, “We need to move!”

“On it!”

Just as the tractor beam activated, the two dodged out of the way. Clearly Sendak had no reservations about trying to kill them, because the next moment, the ship was blasting at them.

“Hunk!” Lance called through the comms, “Get the cannon!”

“You sure?” Hunk asked as they both continued to dodge, “You can handle all this fire?”

“I got it,” Lance promised, “Just get the cannon!”

“Alright.” Hunk turned to go to the cannon flying around it. As he went to smash into it, he was stopped by a wall. It rattled him, and as he got his stability back, he saw a purple flicker. He frowned, then shot a short blast towards. Sure enough, it dispersed, purple hexagons flickering to life around it.

“Ugh, come on!” Hunk complained, “There’s a force field around it! Coran, any suggestions?”

“ _ Every shield has its limits _ ,” Coran replied through the comms, “ _ just keep hitting it until something breaks!” _

“Why do I have a feeling that ‘something’ is gonna be me?” Hunk grumbled as he blasted the force field again.

Meanwhile, Pidge had managed to cut a hole into the ship with their bayard, and after the pressure stabilized, they hopped in. They quickly began to sneak around the corners, Shiro checking each corner.

Just as they were about to round one, Shiro stopped.

“What?” Keith whispered, “There’s no one there.”

Shiro held up his hand, and a moment later, a pair of sentries came marching down the hallway. Shiro’s flesh finger tapped the wall in time with their steps, counting them. As soon as they were gone, he fell to his knees, sweating.

“Shiro!” Keith cried, both leaning down to help Shiro up.

“I-I’m okay,” shiro managed, getting back to his feet, “But this ship...I think I’ve been on this ship before. This was the ship that took me.”

“What?” Pidge cried, “Are you certain?”

“Didn’t the guy with the mustache say that every ship is identical?” Keith asked.

“ _ My name is Coran!” _ Coran’s voice snapped over their comms, “ _ And we can hear you! And yes – every Galra ship is identical, down to the smallest detail. I highly doubt this was the same ship near your Earth, but it would look the same.” _

“Wait!” Pidge said, “Shiro, do you know the ship?”

“I-yeah. I don’t remember it all, just bits and pieces but...the guards are all on perfect schedules. I timed them when I escaped, I think.”

“Do you know where the prisoners are held?” Pidge asked, “Could you find them again?”

“I could,” Shiro said with a frown, “but that’s not what we’re here for.”

“ _ There are prisoners on the ship, _ ” Coran confirmed, “ _ Towards the stern, I can see the biorhythms because they’re not far from you.” _

“We have to go find them!” Pidge insisted.

“Pidge,” Shiro said firmly, “I know you want to free them – I do too, and believe me when I say no one understands more tha–”

“No!” Pidge snapped, “My family was taken by the Galra, and I am going to find them! They could be on this ship!”

Shiro froze, understanding dawning on him, “You’re Commander Holt’s –”

“Yeah,” Pidge interrupted, “and if there’s even a slight chance they might be on this ship, I am taking it.”

Shiro ground his teeth for a moment before sighing, “Alright, fine.”

“What?” Keith hissed, “We’re here for the Lion!”

“Change of plans,” Shiro said, turning to Keith, “I’ll lead Pidge to the prisoners – I know how to get there. The Lion will guide you to it, you just have to listen.”

“But Shiro, I –”

“Patience yields focus, remember that,” Shiro told him, clapping a hand on his shoulder, “Hopefully Pidge and I won’t be long. After getting the prisoners, we’ll head to the pod bay. We’ll keep you updated. You got this, Keith.”

Keith steeled himself and nodded as Shiro turned and began to lead Pidge away. Keith watched them for a moment before taking a breath and walking down a hallway. He came to a fork in the way, a large glowing symbol on the wall.

“Uh...gut says left?”

He turned left, though he had no idea whether that was right or not. He just took turns at random – right, left, left, right, forward, left, right, right, forward.

To Keith’s immense frustration, he found himself back at the fork he had begun with, the glowing symbol hanging over his head mockingly. 

“Argh!” He yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration. He paced for a moment before sighing, staring up at the glowing symbol. It was harsh, but it seemed...familiar somehow. He managed to calm himself down, evening his breaths as he told himself, “Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus.”

Once his heart stopped beating like a drum, he managed to feel a hum, deep in his bones, in his very being. It was similar to the energy that he had felt out in the desert, but this time it felt far more urgent. He felt a pull to the left, and he grinned.

“I’m comin’ for ya, Red.”

* * *

Back at the castle, Coran and Allura were scrambling to get their defenses back up in order.

“Coran, we need to get the particle barrier up!” She commanded from her spot in the centre, powering the castle.

“On it, Princess!”

Coran set it up, but an error message soon displayed on the holograms.

“Oh, that’s not good.” Coran knelt down and opened a control panel, looking through it, “Oh,  _ quiznak,  _ that’s really not good.”

“What’s wrong?” Allura asked, stepping down to see what Coran was looking at, the mice scampering around her feet.

“One of the crystals for the barrier is out of alignment,” Coran said, pointing at the third crystal, “It’s too deep for me to reach without taking everything apart!”

“And we need that crystal to be aligned,” Allura mumbed, feeling the mice sit on her shoulders. She looked at them and sighed, thinking to herself,  _ The mice would be perfect – they would fit in there with no problem. _

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when the mice burst into action, running into the control panel and surrounding the crystal.

“What are they doing?” Coran asked as the mice began to push the crystal into place.

“Our telepathic link!” Allura realized, “We can hear each other’s thoughts, and I thought they would be perfect to fix the crystal.”

“That’s amazing!” Coran declared, then he whooped as the particle barrier lit up around them and the mice scampered back onto Allura’s shoulders, “I told you blossom mice were lucky!”

* * *

Shiro counted the steps on his finger before leading Pidge down a hallway, still dodging the sentries. As they rounded a corner though, they saw a triangular drone approaching them. Shiro reached for his bracelet but Pidge stopped him.

“Wait,” he said, pressing a button on his Paladin armor and scanning it. The dron paused, Pidge did some typing, then the drone lit back up again, except this time the light was green.

“How did you do that?” Shiro asked as Pidge grinned.

“It’s a simple interface with no firewall. My brother’s computer was harder to get into. And now we can have him open up doors for us! I’m gonna name him...Rover.”

“Alright,” Shiro said, “good work, Pidge. C’mon, we’re not far.”

“Right.”

Soon, they came to a door with a panel, which Rover scanned, allowing the door to open.

As it did, it allowed light to flow into the small room, showing half a dozen aliens of varying races and species, each wearing the same uniform Shiro had been when he crashed to Earth.

“Dad? Matt?” Pidge asked, looking around to no avail, “Are there any more of you?”

“N-no,” one responded. He had purple skin and a circular antenna on his head, like a teletubby, and long grey hair, “J-just us. We’re being transported. Are you here to kill us?”

“No,” Shiro declared, stepping forward, “We’re getting you out of here, but we have to hurry.”

The aliens hesitated, but the one from before stared, his eyes widening.

“Champion,” he whispered, then he turned to the others, “It’s the Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can.”

“You...You know me?” Shiro asked, “You...seem familiar?”

“We were captured together for the gladiator ring, in the beginning,” the purple one said, leaning back a bit, “But only for a very short amount of time.”

“Shiro,” Pidge said gently, tapping Shiro’s arm, “We should get out of here.”

He nodded, mentally shaking himself before taking command again, “Right. Follow us, there are escape pods not far from here.”

* * *

Keith grinned as he entered a large bay, the Red Lion sitting, surrounded by a red force field.

“Alright,” he said as he jogged up to it, laying a hand on the force field, ripples emanating out from it, “let’s get outta here.”

Keith expected the force field to disappear into a shimmery light like Lance’s did and open up to him. 

But that didn’t happen.

“Hey!” Keith yelled, now growing impatient and nervous, “It’s me! Keith!  _ Keith!  _ Your – I am your Paladin!” He tapped on the force field, to no avail, “Open up! Open sesame! C’mon!”

Keith yelped as a purple laser blasted the force field right next to him. He summoned his shield to protect himself, backing up against the force field, “Come  _ on _ !” Keith yelled, “I’m your Paladin! I’m bonding with you! We’re  _ bonding _ !”

But the Red Lion didn’t seem to care, because the force field remained up. Keith grumbled to himself – the Blue Lion had opened up easily because no one else had been around, aside from the other Paladins. Red probably figured it wasn’t safe. Keith wasn’t exactly about to defend himself against six Galra robots blasting with lasers. Keith was good, but he wasn’t  _ that  _ good.

He looked around, wondering what he could use. He spied a control panel and moved over to it. Having  _ no  _ idea what it did, he slammed a button.

Immediately, an alarm blared and one giant set of doors at the other end of the bay began to open. Keith realized immediately what the button had done, so he latched onto the control panel. And not a moment too soon either – the second doors began to open, allowing the vacuum of space to work its magic.

The sentries were quickly sucked out into the void and Keith hung on for dear life. He hadn’t thought this through, because he had no idea how he was going to close the doors. He tried to shuffle up and hit the button again, but a crate knocked his leg  _ just  _ as he reached his hand out to press it, leaving only one on the controls. It threw him loose, sucking him into space like the rest of the sentries.

The moment Keith found himself outside of the ship, he was suddenly reminded of the first time he had done Zero-G training.

He’d been fourteen, maybe fifteen. They’d done it in teams of four, because their Zero-G training rooms were small. The teachers knew that the kids would take time actually focusing, so they’d been allowed about five minutes to get used to it and goof off. Keith had felt sick at first, his stomach feeling like it was constantly on the down drop of a rollercoaster. But then he figured out how well he could move, how he could twist and turn and kick and  _ fly. _ He had learned to love Zero-G training, and it was one of the things he missed most about the Garrison.

Keith learned very quickly that it was very different when you weren’t in an enclosed space, with people waiting to save you in case you got hurt.

Instead, Keith was in an infinite space, surrounded by debris and enemies and nothingness. He was spinning endlessly, no friction to stop him. He recalled Coran telling the team they had jetpacks in their suits, but he had  _ no  _ idea how to use them. And where would he jet off to anyways? The castle was kilometres away, and everyone else was busy.

Just as Keith was resigning himself to the fact that he would still be spinning when he was a corpse, he saw a massive flash of red, wondered  _ is that blood? _ , then was swallowed by white and glowing blue. Gravity kicked in immediately, and Keith fell to the metal floor. As he did, he felt a deep rumbling surrounded by a haze of red, almost like a purr combined with a laugh. Keith pulled himself to his feet and made his way to the cockpit, finding the chair waiting for him. As soon as he sat down and grabbed the control, Keith felt a grin slide onto his face.

No wonder Lance was so cocky before – how could he not be, with this much power at his fingers?

* * *

They were almost at the pods when Pidge and Shiro heard Keith’s voice through their helmets.

“ _ Red Lion is secured.” _

“Good job Keith, I knew you could do it,” Shiro said with a smile as Rover opened the door to the pod hangar, “We’re just getting the prisoners into a pod.Coran, can you hear us?”

“ _ Yes, I’m here!” _

“Is there any way you can guide this pod back to the castle?”

“ _ We have a small tractor beam! Once they’re outside we can pull them in. _ ”

“Good, it looks like they’ll need medical attention.”

Just then, blaster fire began to rain down on them. Shiro and Pidge summoned their shields, and Shiro slammed his hand to the back of the pod, opening it up for them and ushering them in. As soon as he had, the teletubby bowed his head.

“We thank you, Champion.”

Shiro wanted to ask how they knew him, why they called him Champion, but they didn’t have time. The pod door closed, as did a secondary door separating it from the hangar, and it shot into space. With the prisoners gone, Shiro didn’t have to worry.

He shoved Pidge back to keep him safe and grabbed his bracelet, morphing into a sword. He dodged the blast of one sentry and sliced through it, stabbing his blade in another. Feeling the rhythm of a fight flow into him, Shiro grabbed the sword and yanked it out, ready to take the rest out.

_ Snap _ !

Shiro froze, staring at the half-sword in his hand, the other half embedded in the sentry now on the ground.

“Are you  _ serious _ ?” Shiro asked with a sigh. 

Pidge leapt into action, swinging haphazardly with his bayard, taking out a sentry.

_ Figures that I would get the ten-thousand year old weapon that breaks after two swings. _

Pidge was thrown to the ground by one of the sentries, and the clacking of armor on metal triggered a memory in Shiro’s mind.

* * *

_ He swung his arm at the sentry, the pain shooting up his arm into his brain. He didn’t stop, though, he couldn’t stop. He didn’t know where they were taking him, and he didn’t want to find out. He swung with his right arm, and a flash of purple flooded his vision. _

“–ro! Shiro! Shiro, hold on! Just-just take deep breaths!”

Shiro opened his eyes to see Pidge trying to fight the remaining sentires, guarding Shiro through his episode and talking him through it. As he saw a sentry come towards him – still filled with panic and adrenaline – he acted on instinct, flattening his hand and slashing it across the chest of the sentry. To literally everyone’s surprise, his hand glowed a brilliant purple, there was a small explosion across the sentry’s chest, and it toppled back.

Deciding to just roll with it, Shiro turned off his mind and allowed his fear and adrenaline to guide him. A good choice, because the sentries were all destroyed within a minute.

“Huh,” Pidge said as the two caught their breath, “so that’s probably why they call you Champion.”

“C’mon, let’s get back to your Lion.”

Back outside, Keith had joined the battle.

“Well,well, well,” Lance said as he grabbed a fighter between his Lion’s jaws, “Look who finally found his Lion! How’s it flying?”

“This is the single best thing I have ever flown!” Keith declared as he wove through the lasers, “Allura was right – this thing is agile as hell. Now I wanna test out its fire power.”

“Ah ah! Cool your jets, man!” Lance yelled, “Shiro and Pidge are still in that ship!”

“If you wanna test your Lion out,” Hunk yelled, blasting the shield around the cannon, “you can help me take this thing out!”

“On it!” Keith flew over to Hunk and the two Lions began to circle the force field, both shooting lasers at it. The shield began to crack, and a moment later, it shattered.

“Hey Keith, check this out!” Hunk called with a laugh as he body-slammed the canon, the metal crumpling under the force of his Lion, half falling off.

“These things  _ rock _ !” Keith said with a laugh as they took out more of the fighters.

“Doth mine ears deceive me?” Lance teased, “Did  _ the  _ Keith Kogane just laugh?”

“Watch your three, McClain.”

“I think he did just laugh,” Hunk agreed, “I hope these comms have recorders, because no one back home will believe us!”

“Garrett, you’ve got a bogey on your 12 o’clock high.”

“Keith, we’re  _ surrounded  _ by bogeys,” Lance teased.

“I think you mean  _ Kogane.  _ We’re in battle.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Lance complained.

“Again, we’re in battle. Lives on the line.”

“C’mon man! Even Hunk is having fun!”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Hunk said as he blasted a row of fighters, “More like it’s easier to joke around than consider the fact that I am in an alien warship fighting other alien warships.  _ Oh god. _ ”

“ _ Aaand  _ we’ve lost him.”

“We’re back in the Lion,” Pidge said, his and Shiro’s faces appearing in the corner of their screens, “We’re heading to you guys.”

“The ion cannon is out of commission,” Keith said.

“The Galra prisoners are in the castle,” Coran affirmed, “I think everyone should pull back for now, that way we can get Black back in commission.”

“Copy that!” Lance said, him and the other four steering their Lions back down to Arus.

The four of them landed their Lions in a large chamber deep within the castle. Pidge let Shiro out and he approached a massive door. Behind him, the four Lion roared, the sound shaking the very ground. Once they had, the doors in front of him began to open, and Shiro saw sunlight glint off of chipped black paint, yellow eyes gleaming.

He grinned as his Lion knelt down before him, opening up.

The team waited, watching as Shiro entered his Lion. A moment later, it stood up, and Shiro’s face appeared on their screens.

“Alright men, let’s kick some Galra ass.”

The rest of the team cheered as Shiro led the charge out of the castle back onto the planet’s surface. Sendak’s ship had descended into the atmosphere, raining fire down upon the castle. Just then, a  _ massive  _ purple blast slammed the castle, the particle barrier flickering.

“Hunk!” Keith snapped, “I thought you took care of the cannon!”

“I did!”

“It’s likely that they fixed it,” Coran said, “I didn’t expect it to be this quick!”

“You need to form Voltron!” Allura told them as they ran on the ground, dodging the lasers, “We can’t hold for much longer!”

“How do we form Voltron?” Pidge asked.

“I...am unsure,” Allura admitted, “The old Paladins just sort of...did it.”

“Well that’s helpful,” Shiro said with a sigh.

“So what should we do?” Lance asked.

“We have to do something!” Keith yelled.

Before anyone could suggest anything else, Hunk slammed the Yellow Lion into the Red Lion, yelling, “COMBINE!”

As the Yellow Lion was significantly bigger than Red, it sent Keith flying, and as his Lion stood again, he growled, “Hunk, what the hell?!”  
“Sorry.” Hunk’s Lion hung his head a bit, “I thought that would work.”

“Let’s try flying in formation,” Shiro suggested, “Hunk and Pidge to my left, Keith and Lance to my right.”

“Yes, sir!”

They quickly followed Shiro’s orders, flying through the sky in formation.

“I don’t feel anything!” Keith announced, feeling no need to hide his frustration.

“Wait, wait, I think I’m feeling something!” Hunk cried.

“Yeah, me too! Like we’re all being pulled in the same direction!” Lance agreed.

“...That might just be the tractor beam we’re all caught in,” Pidge said.

Sure enough, the Voltron Lions were caught in Sendak’s purple tractor beam, slowly being pulled into the ship.

“Guys! Guys, I can’t move my Lion!” Hunk yelled, moving the handles frantically and slamming buttons.

“I’m sure there’s something we can do,” Pidge said, sounding no less frantic as he called up diagram after graph after stat, “We can’t just die here.”

“It’ll be okay,” Lance tried, sounding unconvincing and stressed, “We’ll figure it out, right?”

“I wouldn’t get our hopes up,” Keith told them darkly, “I just wanna say it’s been an honour flying with you boys.”

“ _ Oh my god we’re gonna die _ !” Hunk cried.

“Keith! Stop freaking everyone out!”

“How about  _ you  _ face reality?”

“How about everyone shuts up so I can figure something out?”

“Oh god this is it, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not!” Shiro snapped, silencing everyone, “We won’t fail here, we  _ can’t  _ fail here. This isn’t just a regular mission – Voltron is the universe’s only hope against Zarkon, and we  _ will not fall. _ Not here. We have to win! If we work together, then we’ll win together! Are you with me?”

“Yeah!” The others replied, sounding equal parts enthusiastic and nervous.

“Then let’s  _ do this _ !”

And that was it.

Perhaps it was the camaraderie, or the shared panic, or the fellowship. Regardless, each of the Paladins felt a deep connection with each other and their Lions, and it was enough to do what was needed.

There was a brilliant flash of light that blinded everyone nearby, including Sendak and his men on the Galra ship.

Once the light dissipated, there stood a god.

Towering over everything around them, with limbs made of beasts and a stalwart metal face, unblinking yellow eyes that saw all, was Voltron.

There was a moment of shocked silence as the god stood up, everyone in shock as to what was before them.

“I’m a leg!” Hunk yelled.

“Leg bros!” Lance said with a laugh.

“This is incredible!” Pidge declared.

“This is  _ badass _ !” Keith said.

“Now let’s see what Voltron can do,” Shiro said.

If the Paladins had been worried about moving Voltron, they certainly weren’t now. It was as easy as moving their own limbs. Each of them were in sync, able to see not just from their own mind, but the eyes of the Black Lion’s as well. They didn’t need to speak, didn’t need to clarify – they all knew what they wanted to do, and how to do it. 

Sendak’s ion cannon lit up again, aiming for the castle, sure to be a final blow.

Voltron flew up, and Shiro commanded Pidge to summon the shield on the Green Lion’s arm, effectively blocking the blast. They flew up even further, grabbing the cannon and ripping it right off the Galra ship and tossing it into the void of space. Then they flew back, and the Red Lion blasted the Galra ship, explosions ripping across its sides. 

Voltron landed just as the ship exploded entirely, turning the sky orange with flame. They all turned to watch the ship vall into a rocky valley nearby, flaming the entire way down.

“Man,” Lance said after a moment, “we look  _ so  _ cool.”

* * *

Not long after, they disassembled from Voltron and landed their Lions on the castle’s hill, with Allura, Coran, and the mice coming out to meet them.

“That was  _ insane _ !” Pidge was saying excitedly, “It was like our minds were one! Y’know, when I first saw Voltron and saw I was flying an  _ arm _ , I was like, woah, how am I gonna see  _ anything _ ?”

“Right?” Lance laughed, “It’s like we entered the Drift, from  _ Pacific Rim _ !”

“Oh my god, it’s literally  _ Pacific Rim!” _ Hunk yelled.

“Except I think our mech is a lot cooler than Gypsy Danger,” Keith said with a smile, “The one in the movie can’t disassemble into five flying war machines.”

“I can actually agree with you on that, Kogane,” Lance said with a grin.

“Lance, we’re not in battle, we don’t use last names.”

“Oh, I’m always gonna be in a fight with you – we’re rivals, remember?”

“Well,” Allura interrupted, the others turning to her, “I have to say that that was spectacular – especially considering it was your first time as Paladins.”

“I agree, it was pretty good,” Coran nodded, twirling his mustache, “But you’re going to have to be better than that if you want to defeat Zarkon. That was just one ship – you’ll have to face entire fleets of them! It’s certainly no easy job, being defenders of the universe.”

That dampened the mood pretty quickly, with each of the Paladin’s faces dropping into shock or fear..

Sensing the mood change, Shiro grinned and took charge.

“Defenders of the universe, huh?” He turned to look up at the Lions, “I gotta say, it has a nice ring to it.”


	5. Some Assembly Requires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! This was porbbaly my favourite chapter to write so far lol. The battle scenes are difficult, but I LOVE the chill scenes where we get the Paladins just being pals. I promise you'll get to see a lot more of that, as those had always been my favourite episodes. Obviously we're gonna have action and plot, but I have a lot of chill episodes planned as well. 
> 
> It's my brithday tomorrow btw! The big 21!!! I'm actually Canadian so I've been going out to bars for a couple years now lol, but it's still exciting. My province is still in lockdown which kinda sucks, but we're making due. TBH writing fanfic and seeing y'all's comments is one of the biggest things pulling me through this. I've kinda stopped responsing to comments bc there are a lot of them, but I am reading all of them! And if you have a qyestion, I'll do my best to answer it. 
> 
> Also, just a reminder that I do have a patreon, where I post each of the chapters a week early! It's ohsh!tmyship, and I've also got some orginal work up there if you'd like to check it out!!! 
> 
> As for this fic specifically, the two songs they sing are from Pentatonix. I CANNOT get the idea of them singing together, like just jamming for fun. The one Lance sings is 'Sorry, Not Sorry" and the one they sing as a group is "White Winter Hymnal". I love Pentatonix and beatboxer Hunk is not something I knew I needed
> 
> uhhhh I think that's it??? Yeah lol. Anyways! Thanks for your support, and happy reading!

Shiro had been up for hours, plagued by nightmares that he didn’t exactly want to deal with. Just his luck that the first night he’d be in a safe place to sleep, he wouldn’t be able to. 

So, he’d been doing push-ups to alleviate the stress, putting on his Paladin armor to get used to it, and to feel a bit safer. He jumped when he heard an alarm blare, but he wasted no time in grabbing his helmet and dashing out the door.

Keith had been dreaming that he was chasing shadows through the desert when an alarm blaring woke him up. He sat up and threw the blanket off him– he was already mostly dressed, he rarely slept in actual pyjamas. He grabbed his knife which was tucked under his pillow, and lunged for his jacket hanging on the wall. However, he misstepped and tripped, slamming his face into the wall.

He cursed as he grabbed his jacket, holding his bleeding nose as he ran out the door.

Hunk was dreaming that he was cooking with his mom in her kitchen when he was rudely awakened by the blaring of an alarm.

He jolted up and rolled out of bed onto the floor, tangled in the blanket. His room flashed red, and he heard Allura’s voice over the intercom.

“We have a Galra attack incoming! Everyone to the bridge  _ now _ !”

Hunk scrambled out of his blanket, tripping over it before he made it out the door.

He noticed Keith running up ahead of him and caught up.

“Hey –  _ huff  _ – is your nose –  _ huff _ – bleeding?”

“I tripped,” Keith grumbled, “Why aren’t you dressed?”

Hunk looked down at his yellow pyjamas, which had been provided by the castle, thankfully, “Uh, shit.”

“Whatever, let’s just see what’s wrong.”

In the cryopod room, Pidge had been slumped over his computer, their restless sleep filled with dreams of computer codes and chasing the backs of family members. He was jolted awake by the alarm and ran to the bridge, wearing his normal clothes.

Meanwhile, back in his room, Lance was still asleep. He’d borrowed Pidge’s headphones until he was able to find a suitable replacement and turned on some calming music. He’d also been  _ delighted  _ to find that Alteans valued sleep masks, because he had obviously not had the chance to bring his from home. Lance had slept through far louder things than alarms, coming from a full household. He had his headphones, his eyes shrouded in darkness, and he was dreaming he was on the beach with Allura and Jenny Slater.

On the bridge, Allura and Coran stood by the intercom, taking turns yelling into it.

“Hurry Paladins!” Allura cried, “We can’t take much more of this!”

“Ugh, you’re not selling it,” Coran told her, yanking the mic away and shrieking, “Oh no! We’ve been hit  _ horribly _ ! Oh, the particle barrier is down! Oh, the ceilings are coming down! Allura’s been hit, she’s dying! Allura, any last words?”

“Coran, they’re here.”

“Well, those are some terrible last words.”

“ _ Coran _ .”

He turned to see four of the five Paladins standing at the entrance to the bridge. Hunk was rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly, Pidge slumped and had dark bags under his eyes, but Keith and Shiro stood at attention.

“Do you have any idea how long it took you to get here?” Allura demanded, shutting off the alarm, “Coran, how long did it take?”

“About five doboshes, Princess.”

“Four doboshes and thirty ticks  _ too long _ ,” Allura declared.

“Princess,” Shiro said, trying for patience, “what exactly is going on?”

“Coran and I have been up for  _ vargas _ ,” she explained, still obviously pissed, “working on the castle and testing each of the systems. We had to test the warning systems, and we thought we might as well put you to the test as well – and you  _ failed _ ! Shiro is the only one in his armor, Keith is injured, and only four of you are here! Where is Lance?”

“Probably still sleeping,” Pidge grumbled, “he snagged my headphones, and those are pretty-noise cancelling.”

“Man, even without that, Lance would sleep through anything,” Hunk said, “Back at the Garrison, I had to get up a whole half-hour before him so I could wake him up and drag him out of bed.” Hunk yawned again before speaking, “And c’mon guys, can’t you cut us some slack? You’ve been asleep for like, ten thousand years, and you’re used to this shit. Not us. On Monday, I was in class at the Garrison, now I’ve flown through space after wandering the desert, been in  _ two  _ different cat ships, fought Evil Furry dude, ate some space goo that tasted weirdly like cinnamon, and now I’m living in an alien castle. It’s a lot to process in...uh.” Hunk paused and looked around, “What day is it?”

“It’s Heran’nesday!” Coran offered.

“Uh…”

“Thursday,” Pidge said, “No wifi or cell service obviously, but our clocks still run the same.”

“It’s a lot for everyone,” Shiro agreed, “We’re all still getting used to it.”

“Well, get used to it quicker,” Allura snapped, “Now go get dressed, and someone get Lance. We have important things to discuss.”

Everyone left the room except Shiro, who stayed behind to watch them work and ask about some functions. Once the doors were shut, Hunk sighed.

“Man, I’m impressed we made it here in five minutes, this castle is massive. Well, I guess I just followed Keith.”

“Couldn’t sleep well,” Keith grumbled. His nose had since stopped bleeding, leaving dried blood on his fingers, gloves, and face, “Walked around the castle a bunch.”

“I just followed Rover,” Pidge said, gesturing toward the robot sentry that followed him around, “I was in the medbay. How are those pyjamas by the way?”

“Comfy as all hell,” Hunk admitted, tugging at the hem a bit, “They’re not one-size-fits-all, but I guess the last Yellow Paladin was actually the same size as me. You guys should use yours.”

“I doubt we’ll be as lucky as you,” Pidge said, rubbing his eyes.

“Meh, Lance can hem them for you. He’s actually pretty good with a needle and thread, and I’m sure there’s something on the ship he can use.”

“Is that the actual reason why they call him The Tailor?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah, but we let him believe the other thing.”

“Wait.” Keith paused, looking confused, “Wasn’t...I thought...I thought Lance’s name  _ was  _ Taylor.”

Hunk laughed, “Oh, no. It’s Lance. We  _ called  _ him  _ The  _ Tailor though. Again, because of the sewing shit.”

“Oh.”

They walked in silence for a moment before Hunk spoke again.

“Y’know, it’s weird. Back on Earth, I’d be in advanced astro and Lance would be in advanced aerodynamics and Pidge would be in functions, now we’re chilling in an ancient alien castle.”

“Gotta say it’s a lot more fun than the classes,” Keith admitted with a shrug, “Always hated all the studying.”

“Yeah, but you still got top marks.”

“Just in practicals, I did okay in theory.”

“You were top ten for our year, Keith.”

“Doesn’t matter anyways.”

“Lance would beg to differ.”

“Oh yeah, we have to wake him up,” Pidge said, “Hunk, didn’t you say it took him like half an hour?”

Hunk groaned, “Yeah. He’ll wake up then just go  _ right  _ back to sleep. It literally takes me like twenty times to wake him up.”

“The others won’t be happy if we take that long,” Pidge noted, “We gotta wake him up fast.”

“We could always dump cold water on him,” Keith suggested with a wicked smile.

“Uh  _ no!  _ He’s wearing my headphones!”

By then, they had reached Lance’s room. Thankfully, the door was unlocked and the three stood at the entrance, looking in.

“Huh,” Keith mumbled as he looked at it, “surprised he didn’t make a mess of the place. Look, his clothes are even folded on the chair.”

“Yeah, Lance has always been a bit of a neat-freak,” Hunk said, walking into the room. He sighed before poking Lance in the side, causing him to jolt, “Hey, Lance, buddy, let’s go.”

The others thought that might have done it, but Lance just turned over and giggled in his sleep.

“ _ Hehe, _ Allura,  _ stopppp _ .”

“Gross,” Keith and Pidge said.

“Here, lemme try.” Pidge knelt beside Lance’s bed and peeled off one side of the headphones, saying loudly, “You rockin out here?”

But Lance just smacked them lazily, knocking his glasses askew. In retaliation, Pidge snapped Lance’s sleeping mask, to no avail.

“Jesus Christ.”

“I told you,” Hunk said, now sitting on the floor, “Sleeps like the dead.”

“Okay, enough of this,” Keith said, walking over. The other two craned their heads to see Keith slap a hand over Lance’s mouth and nose. After a moment, he flinched heavily, then began to flail. It wasn’t until he smacked Keith’s chest that he stepped back.

Lance sat up and ripped off his headset and mask, panting as he glared at everyone.

“What the  _ heck _ , guys?!”

“You wouldn’t wake up,” Pidge said innocently.

“Yeah, you get enough beauty sleep, Princess?” Keith mocked.

“Sounded like he was dreaming about the princess,” Hunk said, clasping his hands next to his head, batting his eyes, and speaking in a heavy London accent, “Oh Lonce, stop! You’re  _ so  _ funny!”

“Knock it off!” Lance snapped, tossing a blue lion slipper at Hunk’s head, who only laughed, “Why are you all in my room anyways? Does privacy not exist in space?”

“Allura sounded the alarm and you slept right through it,” Pidge said, “which is super unsafe by the way. She wants to see us all on the bridge once we’re dressed, so we had to come wake you up.”

“You couldn’t think of  _ any  _ ideas other than asphyxiation?”

“Oh stop crying,” Keith snorted, “it was two seconds, and you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Still,” Lance grumbled, standing up. He adjusted the lights using a switch near his bed, and Keith saw he was wearing the Paladin pyjamas. Unfortunately though, they were a bit too big for him, with his shirt hanging off one shoulder and revealing half his chest. If the pants didn’t have drawstrings, they probably wouldn’t have stayed up.

Deciding that he did  _ not  _ want to stare at Lance’s surprisingly muscular chest, Keith turned away.

“Whatever. See you guys in a minute.”

Once he was gone, Lance turned to Hunk, “What happened to him? Did someone punch him and I  _ missed  _ it?”

“Nah, he tripped and smashed his face off the wall.”

“Heh, nice.”

Not fifteen minutes later, the rest of the Paladins had donned their armor and made their way to the bridge, entering to see a hologram that spanned the room, filled with star systems and galaxies.

“What’s all this?” Keith asked.

“While Coran and I were doing repairs,” Allura explained, standing in her centre spot, “we looked through our logs, and discovered an unprecedented number of distress calls. Based on the calls this castle alone was close enough to receive, we can assume that all of these planets have fallen to the Galra.”

She waved her hand, and most of the pretty blue turned a deep purple, with the jagged symbol of the Galra appearing over some

“And that’s only the calls close enough to the castle,” Coran said sadly, “We can pick up signals from galaxies away but...well, most of the calls we received happened hundreds of deca-phoebs ago. I did some quick calculations, and based on the number of calls, here is what we can assume Zarkon has conquered.”

An even bigger piece turned a startling violet, turning the room purple.

“And we’re here,” Shiro said, pointing to the Milky Way system, which sat  _ just  _ outside the purple, “And there’s certainly been contact with the Galra, but we have no idea to what extent.” He sighed heavily and crossed his arms, “Essentially, we have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to stop this war and rid the universe of the Galra Empire. It won’t be quick, and it will not be easy.”

“Which is why it is so important for you to train and make yourselves ready,” Allura declared, “We must stop Zarkon from attacking any more planets and free the ones he has in his grasp. So, while Coran and I continue to work on the castle, you shall train. Form Voltron again, and learn to work together as Paladins.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Lance said with a shrug, “I mean, us becoming Voltron yesterday was  _ awesome _ !”

“It’ll be even better if we manage to do it again,” Shiro said.

“Wait!” Pidge interrupted, “What about the prisoners? The ones from the Galra ship? I need to talk to them.”

“Ah, negative Green,” Coran said as he twirled his mustache, “I’m afraid it’ll be another quintant before you can talk to them – they can’t leave their cryopods until they’re fully healed.”

“I want to talk to them too,” Shiro said, laying his flesh hand on Pidge’s shoulder, “but it can wait until tomorrow. Until then, we’ll train – it’ll be good to take your mind off it, much better than sitting around and counting the seconds.”

Pidge nodded, but he didn’t seem all that convinced.

“Alright boys, to the Lions.”

Shiro’s chair moved, revealing a circle on the ground on which he stepped, which began to lower. The other four went to the four pillars around the room, which opened to an elevator and took them down. There, they were faced with a zipline, the white walls lined with the colour according to their Lions. They each grabbed onto it, zooming through the inner workings of the castle.

The zipline stopped over a drop that led down into the seat of their speeders parked at the bottom. They dropped in, following the path to their respective hangars for their Lions, and the speeders were raised on a platform, which led to the Lions’ bays in their chests. Once there, they accessed the cockpit and flew out of the different peaks of the castle.

Well, almost all of them.

When Hunk got to the point where he was supposed to let go of his zipline and drop into the speeder, he hesitated. He had never been a fan of heights or most scary things, and he’d often been mocked as a child because he could never jump off the tall diving boards.

He didn’t hesitate for long, but it was enough to trigger the speeder to automatically leave without him, leaving Hunk to jog the distance.

Outside, the other four waited in the meadow at the bottom of the castle’s hill.

After a few minutes, Lance asked, “Should someone go in after Hunk?”

“I’m here!” He called, huffing and puffing as his Lion lowered itself before him, “Speeder left without me.  _ Really  _ wish these things were a lot closer.”

“Well hurry up and get out here!” Keith said.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Sure enough, the Yellow Lion soon appeared from its peak, flying over and landing clumsily with the rest of them.

“Alright,” Shiro said, “I say we try flying around in formation like we did last time. That will give us some time to warm up, get used to the Lions, and get in sync. Sounds good?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Right. Let’s go!”

The Lions kicked off the ground, soon forming an unsteady formation. Shiro led them in a couple of laps around the castle because he knew the Lions were new to everyone – especially Pidge and Hunk, who had very little piloting experience. He noticed how they seemed to stumble on the turns, struggling to stay in formation. On the third go-around though, they seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

“How’re we feeling?” Shiro asked the team.

“Getting the hang of my Lion,” Hunk admitted, “Lance was right – it’s like it follows my thoughts!”

“It’s weird being a pilot,” Pidge mumbled, “I feel like I have to look out for way more stuff.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Shiro assured, “All that stuff will become like second nature the more we practice. So now that we’re feeling more comfortable, let’s form Voltron!”

“Yeah!” The team cheered, flying up and forward in formation, their excitement mounting as they flew.

Whenever they turned around the castle, they continued to cheer “yeah!”, but it quickly lost its luster, the enthusiasm dropping every lap. 

By the fourth time, Hunk was the only one offering a half-hearted “whoo”.

“Oh,” he said, when he was greeted by silence, “Am I the only one still pretending to be excited?”

“Ugh, why can’t we do this?!” Keith complained, “It was so much easier last time!”

Allura’s face appeared on their screens, “ _ Oh wonderful, comms are back on. I see you’re having some trouble forming Voltron? _ ”

“Yeah,” Shiro admitted, “Any suggestions you could offer? You’re certainly more knowledgeable about Voltron than we are.”

“ _ Well,”  _ she said, tapping her cheek thoughtfully, “ _ Voltron thrives off of the bonds forged between the Paladins and the Lions, how everything works together as one team. I might suggest trying to focus on that bond – both with your teammates and your ships. _ ”

“I can think of  _ one  _ bond I’d love to focus on,” Lance said with a wink, which earned him a groan from the rest of the team.

“Alright, let’s try that. Team, we’ll continue to fly in formation, but try to think of the bond you have with your Lion, try to reach out and connect.”

“Yes, sir!”

Once again they began laps, but this time in silence as each Paladin tried to feel the bond they had with their Lion, feel the energy shared between them.

It only took two laps before Keith snapped again.

“This isn’t working!”

“How about we land and figure something else out?” Pidge suggested.

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed, “I’m getting kinda dizzy just flying around in circles.”

“Okay, we’ll land at the bottom of the hill.”

Shiro led them down where the Lions sat on their haunches in a circle, and the Paladins talked through the comms.

“Does anyone have any ideas?” Shiro asked, “Anything we can try?”

“What if we try literally building Voltron?” Keith suggested, “Like from the ground up.”

“Like...a pyramid?” Shiro asked.

“You mean like what cheerleaders do?” Lance asked, then he scoffed, “Shiro and I are the only ones hot enough on this team to be cheerleaders.”

“For what it’s worth,” Hunk said, “I think I would make a  _ great  _ cheerleader. Every stunt needs a base.”

“Who would be the flier?”

“Pidge, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Uh no,” Pidge interjected, “I will not be doing any sort of flying outside of this Lion.”

“We’re talking hypothetically,” Lance said with a wave of his hand, “Like if we  _ were  _ on a cheerleading team.”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed, “You’d be our flier, Keith and Lance would be our bases, and I’d be the third.”

“You guys are forgetting Shiro,” Keith said.

“He’d be the hot coach, obviously.”

“ _ Enough _ ,” Shiro said, halting the conversation, “We’ll try it Keith’s way for now and see if that helps at all. Everyone, try and arrange themselves according to what you were when we were Voltron.”

“Yes, sir!”

The team soon found themselves in a very strange pyramid, with Blue and Green at the bottom, Red and Black on top of them, and Yellow standing on Red’s back, their front paws on Black because of the size difference.

“Hunk,” Shiro said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m the head,” Hunk said.

“No, Shiro is the head, he’s the leader,” Pidge corrected.

“Uh, no, I’m pretty sure the last time we were Voltron, I was the head.”

“Hunk,” Keith said, “you yelled ‘I’m a leg’.”

“I was yelling a lot of things. I was stressed.”

“C’mon man!” Lance protested, “Whatever happened to Leg Bros?”

“Shiro is the head,” Keith said, seeming like he was losing his patience.

“What?” Hunk asked, “Like, all the time? Can we not switch it up?”

“How about we just try it my way,” Shiro suggested calmly, “Then we can see where to go from there.”

“Hmm, okay,” Hunk said as he steered his Lion off of the top, “but I call dibs on getting head next.”

“I think you’ll have a hard time finding someone willing to give you any.”

“LANCE!”

Lance just chuckled as the team rearranged themselves so they could better suit the real form of Voltron.

As Shiro was carefully lowering his Lion on top of Green and Red, he was talking quietly to himself.

“And now...I...shall form the head.”

He landed, and the Paladins waited a moment before Keith spoke.

“Okay. Now what?”

“Well it was  _ your  _ idea, Keith,” Lance said.

“Maybe I should try being the head again?” Hunk suggested hopefully.

“Why don’t we try some meditation like this?” Shiro offered, “Maybe that’ll help.”

The team murmured their assent and Shiro nodded.

“Alright. So first, I want everyone to close their eyes. Focus on taking deep breaths. In...one, two three. Hold...one, two three. Exhale...one, two three.”

He listened carefully to hear the Paladins begin to sync their breathing to his commands.

“Good. Now listen. To your breathing, your heartbeats, the hum of the machinery around you. Find a rhythm with it, a steady flow, like waves upon the sand. Let the noise wash over you, begin to relax. Unclench your jaw, let the tension out of your shoulders, and slowly move down your body until you feel relaxed, still letting the sounds surround you.”

The Paladins did as they were told, slowly letting the tension out of all their bodies. Shiro stopped talking to give them a moment to focus on the other sounds, and soon the quiet hum of the Lions that they had barely heard, now seemed as loud as a storm.

“I-I think I feel it,” Lance said quietly after a bit, his eyes still squeezed shut, feeling a sort of buzz deep in his chest, “The energy of the Lion.”

“Good. Everyone else, try to find that, focus on the energy around you coming from the Lions, from Voltron.”

“ _ Paladins! What on Altea are you doing?” _

They all jolted, broken out of their reverie by the return of the princess. Shiro sighed and let his head hit the back of his seat.

“We were meditating, hoping to form Voltron that way. But it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“ _ Hmm, yes, I did notice that you have been unable to form Voltron. So I have an idea!” _

“We’re listening,” Shiro said.

“ _ Well, you were able to form Voltron in the heat of battle last time _ ,” Allura reasoned,  _ “You had to in order to win the battle and save everyone _ .”

The team agreed, and she grinned.

“ _ Wonderful! I have to run a diagnostic on the castle’s defenses, so we may as well help each other out! _ ”

“Wait, what?” Hunk said.

“ _ I can simulate a real battle!”  _ Allura said cheerfully, then she pressed a button on the castle’s console and the team saw the particle barrier come into being, then saw the castle start blasting lasers in their general direction. 

They all shrieked and scrambled to get away, tumbling out of their pyramid formation to run across the ground.

“Allura, what the hell?” Keith demanded as he narrowly avoided a blue laser, blasting the ground right beside him.

“ _ I’m planting two flowers with one seed!”  _ She replied with a smile _ , “Running diagnostics and inspiring you! Now let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!” _

Then her image disappeared and they could hear the soft  _ click  _ of their comms disconnecting.

“Allura!” Shiro yelled, but he got no response.

“How the heck does she manage to be so cute when she’s trying to kill us?!” Lance cried.

“Stop thinking with your dick, McClain! Focus on not getting hit!”

“You watch yourself, Kogane!” Lance snapped, using Blue’s tail to aim a small blast at Keith.

“That’s it, I’m outta here,” Hunk declared, flying up to the castle. He was desperately hoping that the Lion would be recognized as friendly and thus allow him to pass through the particle barrier. Alas, he overestimated the Alteans’ technology and was met with a wall, throwing him back and causing him to roll down the hill.

Meanwhile, Keith and Lance were busy fighting each other, shooting poorly-aimed blasts at one another as they also tried to dodge the castle’s attacks. Pidge was flying around just screaming nonsense, most of which was swearing.

“Princess Allura!” Shiro cried through gritted teeth, switching their comms on, “Maybe you could turn it down a little bit.”

“ _ Do you think Zarkon will ‘turn it down’?”  _ She demanded, “ _ Do you think Zarkon will have mercy?” _

“I am very well aware of the fact that he  _ will not _ ,” Shiro said, trying desperately to cap his anger.

“ _ Good. _ ”

Allura turned their comms off again and sighed. She watched the Lions scramble from her spot on the bridge before shrugging and turning away. They’d be fine, they were Paladins after all.

* * *

Zarkon watched with mild interest as one of his commanders appeared before him in the throne room, slamming a fist to his heart before bowing deeply.

“Commander Th’ryk,” Zarkon said, his voice a deep rumble in the large chamber, “you’re early. I assume your mission was a success.”

“I am sorry to say otherwise, your Imperial Majesty. We were able to collect a large amount of data and samples, but the moon’s crust soon became very unstable, and we had to evacuate.”

Zarkon scowled, “You should have stayed and finished your mission.”

“Sire, I appreciate your tenacity, but had I stayed, it would have cost me at least half of my crew, and much of our equipment, potentially even our data. We waited until the last possible moment to evacuate, I assure you.”

“The half that would have survived would have been stronger, the equipment replaced, the data upgraded. Weakness is an infection – best to cut it out before it spreads. Prove to me that I do not need to discard you. Dismissed.”

“Y-yes, sire,” Th’ryk said before bowing again and leaving the room. Once he was gone, Zarkon turned to Haggar, who appeared at his right.

“Tell me, witch, have you had any luck with the Komar project?”

“Not yet, Emperor Zarkon,” she said, “However, I do bring good news of our new creation. The tests so far have all been positive, and it is likely we will be able to complete it soon. And I assure you, it will strike fear into the hearts of the Paladins.”

“Fear is meaningless if there is no threat behind it,” Zarkon said, then he waved his hand, “Leave me.”

Haggar bowed before disappearing into the shadows, leaving Zarkon alone to brood on his iron throne.

* * *

Back at the castle, the Paladins had found their way to the castle’s lounge, where there was a conversation pit in the centre of the room, lined with comfy cushions. They had all found spots in it, sighing contentedly as they relaxed. It wasn’t five minutes in when they heard Lance snoring softly, one of his feet kicked up on the floor, his head on Hunk’s lap.

“How does he  _ do  _ that?” Pidge asked.

“I keep trying to tell everyone – he sleeps like the dead,” Hunk said with a shrug.

“That cannot be comfortable,” Keith said, “He’s sleeping on your amor.”

“Maybe he’s narcoleptic,” Shiro suggested.

“I asked him about it once,” Hunk told the group, “He said that he and his twin sister were babies of the family, and their siblings were all a couple years older, so the house was never quiet when they needed to take naps. As they got older, his siblings got louder, and Lance was still in elementary school when his older siblings were in highschool, so he learned to sleep through anything.”

“I have to admit, it’s impressive,” Pidge said as he adjusted his glasses, “I might try to take a nap, but I know we have to go back out soon.”

“Not yet,” Shiro said with a sigh, leaning his head back, “We can take a few minutes to relax.”

Just then, Allura and Coran came through one of the doors, chatting about the castle’s diagnostics. They stopped when they saw the Paladins lounging around and Allura grinned.

“Oh, you formed Voltron? That’s wonderful!”

“No,” Keith said coldly, “The castle stopped shooting at us and the particle barrier went down, so we just flew in.”

Allura turned to Coran with a scowl and he smiled sheepishly.

“I had to power down the defenses to run the fire safety protocols,” he said.

Allura sighed and turned back to the Paladins, “Well, that’s certainly no excuse. You should be out there training and –” She was interrupted by a sudden, quiet snore, which came from Lance. He quieted and she continued, “Is...is Lance  _ asleep _ ?”

“Yes ma’am,” Hunk said, patting Lance’s head affectionately.

“Well that’s incredibly  _ rude _ !” She kicked his foot lightly, but he just turned in his sleep.

“He’s not gonna wake up,” Pidge said.

“I can wake him up,” Keith said with a wicked smile.

“Please do,” Allura said coldly, “I would prefer if people actually  _ listened  _ when I spoke to them. So yes, wake him up.”

“Gladly.” Keith stood and pulled the same move as earlier – clapping a hand over Lance’s mouth and nose, stopping his airflow. This time though, Lance kicked him, right in the side. Keith gasped and stepped back as Lance stood up.

“Stop trying to smother me in my sleep!” He yelled.

“You didn’t have to  _ kick  _ me!”

“Then stop choking me, you creep!”

“Enough!” Allura yelled, catching everyone’s attention, “You are the only thing standing between Zarkon and universal domination, and you can’t even form Voltron! You should be out training!”

“Princess, I understand your concern,” Shiro said, “but flying Voltron is taxing. We have to take breaks every now and then, or we’re going to all burn out, and then we won’t be able to do anything. Five more minutes, and then we’ll be back in the Lions.”

“Speaking of going back,” Lance said, now fully awake, “When are we thinking of going back to Earth?”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed, “Any timeline here?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I find my family,” Pidge declared.

“ _ None  _ of us are going anywhere until we stop Zarkon!” Keith said.

“Keith is right – we can’t risk leading the Galra back to Earth,” Shiro said, “Trust me, I miss Adam like nothing else, but it’s better for everyone if we stay away until we can safely say that the Galra won’t follow us back home.”

“So…” Lance said, “we can’t go back until we defeat Zarkon, but we can’t defeat Zarkon until we figure out how to form Voltron, which we can’t do. Great.”

“Well,” Coran offered, “A large part of forming Voltron is based on the bond with your teammates and Lions. The original Paladins were good friends for years and fought dozens of battles together before Voltron even existed. They were all like a pack of yelnors connected at the ears, one giant family.”

“Wow,” Lance said, “Yeah, doesn’t sound like us.” He flopped back into Hunk’s lap, kicking his leg up and wincing as his head connected with Hunk’s thigh armor.

“I believe that you were only able to form Voltron before because you were all relying on survival instincts,” Coran reasoned.

“But if that were true,” Allura countered, “then they would have formed Voltron when I attacked them.”

“Well, we didn’t,” Keith snapped.

“That’s because you weren’t on the same wavelength as before,” Coran said, “In your first battle, you all had survival instincts kick in, so you were in sync, but you can’t just rely on your instincts. You’re going to have to work together and learn to be in sync aside from being Voltron, which will make the transformation easier.”

“So...what are you suggesting?” Shiro asked, “Going back into the Lions?”

“Not yet. We have a training deck on the castle, and I know many team-bonding exercises for battle!” Coran grinned, “I could lead them, that way you train  _ and  _ bond!”

“It’s worth a shot,” Shiro said.

“As long as I don’t have to get back in Yellow just yet,” Hunk said with a shudder, “My head still hasn’t stopped spinning.”

“So it’s settled,” Allura said, “Off to the training deck.”

Deciding that that was the closest to a compromise they were going to get from Allura on the subject, Shiro stood and stretched.

“Alright team, let’s follow Coran to the deck.”

“Uh, I think Lance fell asleep again,” Hunk said, pointing at Lance, who had an arm draped over his face.

“Do all humans fall asleep this quickly?” Coran asked, leaning over to inspect Lance.

“Nah,” Pidge said, “Lance is just weird that way.”

“Well, get him up!” Allura said.

“On it.” Keith stood with a grin before Lance’s hand – the one hanging off the side of the seat – was raised in a  _ stop  _ gesture.

“I’m up. Not looking to be smothered three times in one day, thank you.”

* * *

Haggar stalked the dark always of the dungeon, soldiers and sentries alike standing aside to let her pass. There were no other Druids to accompany her, but her creepy energy was enough to have anyone turning away.

Soon, she arrived in front of a large cell and motioned for the guard to open it. He did, and she stepped inside, the purple light from the hallway illuminating the monstrous creature within.

“You were forsaken because of the Champion,” Haggar told it, “I present to you an opportunity for revenge. Will you take it?”

Haggar received an eager growl in return, and she grinned.

* * *

The five Paladins found themselves in the centre of the training deck, standing in a circle with their backs to each other. Coran was in the observation room a floor up, overlooking the training deck, giving him access to all the controls.

“ _ Alright, I ran some rudimentary tests earlier, _ ” Coran said over the loudspeaker, “ _ But it’ll be good to test it with actual training. Now! This is a simple exercise, no weapons, only shields. I will release twelve small drones that will shoot non-lethal lasers at you. You’ll feel a small shock when they hit you, and once you’re hit, you’ll drop down to below the deck. The point of this exercise is to protect your teammates. The drones will speed up and get more intense, so we’ll see how long you can last! Ready?” _

_ “ _ Ready!” Shiro called as the team summoned their shields and backed up.

“ _ Great!”  _ Coran hit a button that released a small swarm of drones, which began to circle the group. They began blasting at small intervals, the Paladins blocking the blasts with their shields. As one aimed at Hunk, he ducked, leaving Pidge’s back open. He was hit, and immediately swallowed up by a hole in the floor. A drone shot through the gap, hitting Hunk, taking him out too.

The last three backed into each other, doing their best to shield against the drones, which were picking up in intensity.

“ _ Remember,”  _ Coran said, “ _ you have to protect your teammates, or there’ll be no one left to protect you! _ ”

“Hey Keith,” Lance teased, “You keepin’ up?”

“I’m doin’ just fine,” Keith said through gritted teeth, “You just focus on keeping me safe.”

“Hey,  _ I  _ actually care about my teammates and don’t try to smother them in their sleep!”

“Oh get over it!”

Lance turned to say something snarky to Keith in return but saw that he and Shiro had knelt as the drones lowered their level. Lance didn’t have time to copy their moves, lifting his leg as one shot at him. Of course, the shot hit Keith instead. Lance knelt down and did his best to shield Shiro on his own, but he didn’t last very long before getting hit himself, and Shiro was gone soon after.

The floor opened back up, morphing to create a ladder to lead up to the deck again. They each climbed out, bickering as they did.

“ _ How about we try something different?”  _ Coran suggested, “ _ Lance, you stay there, stand off to the side. The rest of you, come up to the observational room _ .”

Hunk shrugged at Lance as the others went through the door underneath the observation room, going to the elevator. Lance summoned his bayard and held it up, looking through the scope, wondering how accurate it was.

As he was looking through it, he saw a bunch of blue walls shimmer to life in front of him.

“Woah,” he said, putting his bayard away.

“ _ Lance, if you would make your way to the centre? _ ” Coran asked, a path lighting up for him. Lance followed it, soon standing in the very centre of the room. Once he found his spot, the walls around him disappeared.

“ _ Now,” _ Coran explained, “ _ the walls are still there, but they’re invisible. One of your teammates has a map of the maze up here, and they will guide you through. Be careful not to touch the walls though – you’ll receive a slight shock! _ ”

“Alright, seems easy enough,” Lance said, hands on his hips, “So, who’s guiding me?”

A voice spoke in his helmet, “Face three o’clock, take two steps, then turn right and take three steps.”

“Uh, no way!” Lance yelled, looking up at the observation room, though he could mostly only see shadows behind the glass, “I am  _ not  _ letting Keith guide me!”

“ _ You’re going to have to trust every member of your team,”  _ Coran said, “ _ Including Keith. _ ”

“This is just perfect,” Lance grumbled, turning and taking two steps. As he took the second, he hit the wall and felt a large and very painful shock as he did, sending him stepping back.

“Ouch! That was  _ not  _ a  _ slight shock _ !”

“ _ Sorry. The energy output may need recalibrating. Continue. _ ”

“No!” Lance yelled, “Keith led me right into a wall!”

“I said face three o’clock, you faced six. So take two steps back, face three o’clock, and take two steps.”

Lance grumbled as he did so, counting his steps carefully. However, as he took the second step facing three o’clock, he was met with another violent shock. He threw his helmet off in anger and faced the observation room.

“That’s it! Get Keith in here  _ now,  _ and let’s see how he likes getting fried!”

There was a pause before Shiro’s voice spoke over the intercom, “ _ How about we try a different training exercise? _ ”

* * *

The Paladins were back in their Lions, hovering at an altitude Coran had requested them at. His face appeared on their screens as he explained the exercise.

“ _ So...this one is a bit more advanced, but we’re in a rush and the Lions can take it, so we’re going for it. For this exercise, you’ll close your eyes and let your Lion guide you. You must bond with your Lion and feel its instincts, allow yourself to see through the Lion’s eyes. You will all begin a nosedive and pull up before you hit the ground – the goal is to do it right before you crash. And to ensure you don’t cheat… _ ”

Just as they began their nosedive, they were suddenly blinded, their helmets going dark.

They each reacted with surprise, trying to see.

“ _ I activated your training helmets!” _ Coran informed them cheerfully.

“Aw, man,” Hunk said nervously, “I was gonna peek.”

“ _ This ensures no peeking! Now listen to your Lion, feel what your Lion feels! _ ”

Hunk hummed a high pitched note, trying to bond with his Lion, but he panicked – he had no idea how fast he was falling, how far away the ground really was. He wasn’t a pilot! He wouldn’t be able to pull up in time!

“My Lion feels scared!” He declared as he pulled out of the nosedive,  _ well  _ away from the ground.

“Hey Keith,” Lance called, “you still going?”

“You bet,  _ McClain. _ ”

“Yeah? Well I’m speeding up,  _ Kogane _ !”

“Oh yeah?”

Keith copied Lance’s move, neither of them even considering the thought that the other might have been bluffing. They just continued their nosedive, both of their hearts hammering in their chests as they drew closer to the ground.

“Must be getting pretty close now,” Lance said, clenching his hands around the controls.

“Must be. You pullin’ up?’

Lance scoffed, “Is that a Southern accent I hear, cowboy?”

Keith scowled, “Shut up. You’re just gonna chicken out.”

“You wish!”

However, before they could engage in any more witty banter, both of them slammed into a sand dune, their Lions becoming buried up to their chests. The Paladins were thrown around, both of them jostled roughly from the collision. 

“ _ Ow, _ ” Lance mumbled, then he yelped as his Lion toppled over and slid down the dune. Keith might have laughed, but he was seeing double.

“What was that?” Pidge cried, “Did they just crash? We’ve gotta be close to the ground!”

He yanked his Lion up, still a good ways from the ground.

Shiro closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the energy of the Lion, imagining flowing through the controls and into his hands, through the rest of his body. He measured his breathing, cleared his mind.

As soon as he had, he found himself surrounded in a black and purple nebula, and when he opened his eyes, he saw through the Black Lion’s eyes, seeing the ground quickly approach. He waited a moment before pulling up, flying out of the canyon with a loud  _ whoop! _

He had never flown anything like this before, and he never wanted to fly anything else. What other ship allows you to read its mind and see what it sees?

Coran turned off their training helmets, allowing them to fly back to the castle. As they did, the other Paladins were in awe.

“Shiro, that was awesome!” Lance said.

“How did you do that?” Keith asked.

“I did a lot of yoga and meditation back on Earth,” Shiro said with a smile, “And I’m Buddhist, so meditating helped keep me calm when I was a prisoner. I’ve gotten pretty damn good at it.”

“Maybe we should start doing yoga,” Hunk joked.

“It’s a lot of fun!” Lance said, “I used to do it with my sisters! Hot yoga is the  _ best _ !”

“ _ Perhaps another time _ ,” Coran said, his face appearing again,  _ “But it does give me another idea. Come back to the training deck _ .”

Lance groaned, “Am I gonna get electrocuted again?”

“I hope so,” Pidge said, earning a laugh from the rest of the team.

The team parked their Lions and made their way to the training deck, where Coran waited, holding several strange white things that looked almost like crowns, with a blue gem in the middle.

“What are these?” Shiro asked as he took one, inspecting it.

“They’re Altean devices called connectors,” Coran explained as he handed one to each of the Paladins, “They’re meant to allow you access to each other’s minds. It’s not  _ exactly  _ the same as Voltron – when you all merge, your minds become five parts of one whole.”

“We noticed that,” Hunk said, turning the connector over in his hands, “It was like we were in each other’s heads, like we were sharing the same body.”

“Exactly!” Coran said, “Shiro’s meditation gave me the idea – this will open your minds to each other similar to how it is when you’re Voltron. You’ll need to practice melding your thoughts together, opening your thoughts to each other. No walls, no secrets. Go on, put them on! Sit in a circle!”

They did, their formation similar to Voltron’s. Once they sat, they put the connectors on, which quickly changed to fit their heads. Once they did, they saw holograms of their current thoughts projected in front of them.

“This is so cool!” Lance said with a laugh.

“Yes, now close your eyes,” Coran guided as he began to walk around the circle, “Get used to the feeling of your minds being open to each other.”

“It’s like we’re in the drift,” Lance said quietly, and some movie footage began to play on his display.

“The drift?” Coran asked.

“It’s from a movie back on Earth,” Shiro explained, his hologram displaying similar footage, “Similar to how being Voltron is.”

Soon, all of the screens flickered to show the same footage – one man and one woman moving in a giant machine, fighting a monster. Coran grinned,  _ delighted  _ that there was at least one commonality between the group.

It didn’t last long though, as their thoughts wandered. That was fine, and Coran let them wander, letting them get used to their minds being connected.

Lance was thinking of his family, smiling as he remembered surfing with his siblings on the beach, chasing his little cousins through the waves and running through the sand at night, helping his Mamì prepare dinner.

Hunk thought of cooking with his mom in her kitchen, all copper and coloured marble. It was almost always late, when the night died down and the other chefs didn’t mind a little kid in their way. He thought of dinners with his parents, of days spent with his dad’s best friend in the garage next door, teaching him everything she knew about cars and speeders and machines.

Keith thought about his dad, but only briefly. He could feel some interest pique at the image of his father, and he quickly switched to thinking of his father’s shack instead, the closest thing he had to call home.

Pidge was thinking of their home, of dinner with their family, with Max the dog eating out of their hand, as their mom chastised them and Matt laughed.

Shiro thought of Adam and his dorky, snorting laugh. He thought of the first time he gave Adam flowers, and how he couldn’t speak for a full minute.

Coran watched with interest as the screens in front of the Paladins flickered as they explored each other’s minds. They didn’t probe deep – they were still novices, and Coran would have been a fool if he didn’t think they each still harboured secrets. Once he noticed them all on a common topic again – a similar building filled with people in green and orange uniforms – he prompted them on.

“Now clear your minds and think only of your Lions. Imagine them, imagine the Lion in front of you.”

After some flickering, some images of memories of the Lions, each of them had a 3-D hologram of their respective Lion in front of them. Coran grinned, as this was going  _ much  _ smoother than he thought.

“Alright,” he said calmly, “now imagine combining your Lions in the centre, becoming Voltron. You can all see each other’s Lions, so imagine your Lion joining them.”

They  _ could  _ see the other’s Lions, could see them in a void. Each Paladin urged their Lion towards the centre, all slowly coming together.

Pidge was having trouble, though. He felt someone prodding at their mind, some presence in their consciousness, tugging at some memory. 

Deciding to take a  _ quick  _ peek as to what someone was looking at, they suddenly had the photograph they kept in their journal, the one taken the day before –

“Pidge!” Keith snapped, opening his eyes as his Lion disappeared, “Stop thinking about your stupid girlfriend!”

“I wasn’t!” Pidge snapped back, turning to Hunk, “You’re rooting around in my head! Knock it off!”

“Hey, I thought this was all open!” Hunk defended, raising his hands, the others opening their eyes and the images disappearing entirely, “You can look through my head if you’d like!”

“Everyone’s mind should be open to everyone else,” Coran said, “but let’s hold off on the poking and prodding for now, yes? The goal is to try and create Voltron with your minds, which will make it easier to do so in practice.”

“Let’s try it again,” Shiro suggested, “We were doing well. Let’s pick up from the Lions again.”

The team nodded their assent and closed their eyes again, images of their Lions flickering back to life in front of them. Once again, the Lions began to join in the centre, shifting and changing to become Voltron.

Pidge concentrated hard on getting Green to join Voltron, but they could still feel Hunk’s presence in their mind, could feel the echo of someone thinking of Matt’s face, of Sam Holt trimming his beard.

They couldn’t help it. They didn’t mean to latch onto the memory, but such an intimate thing was too much, and it brought a flood of emotions with it. The Green Lion disappeared, replaced by pictures of Sam and Matt Holt.

“Pidge!” Keith snapped. 

“Hey, cool it!” Lance said, glaring at Keith as they all opened their eyes, “Leave him alone!”

Pidge threw off the connector, clattering on the floor, “I don’t want you guys rooting around in my head! Mind your own damn business!”

“Pidge,” Shiro tried, “I know it can be difficult, but we almost got it this time. Maybe we should try again.”

“No,” Pidge said, his anger melting away as his chin trembled, “I’m done. I’m...tired.”

Sparing Pidge the embarrassment of crying in front of the team, Shiro sighed and took off his connector, “Alright. Let’s take a break.”

“I’ll get you some refreshments,” Coran suggested, marching off to grab them some. The room was quiet for a moment, Pidge wiping at his eyes furiously and adjusting his glasses.

“Man, I miss watching movies,” Lance said with a heavy sigh, breaking the awkward silence as he leaned back on his hands, “When we were all thinking about  _ Pacific Rim,  _ that was awesome. I wonder if we could do that the whole way through.”

“We probably could,” Hunk said, “We all probably remember different parts of it really well. We’d probably be able to piece it together.”

“That would be fun,” Lance said, “I wonder if there are any other movies we’ve all seen.”

Shiro smiled, appreciative of Lance’s efforts, “What about Disney movies or cartoons?”

“Yeah!” Hunk said, “Man, Lance and I used to have movie marathon nights, and we always watched Disney movies and musicals before exams.”

Keith snorted, “That sounds like a good idea.”

“They were  _ relaxing,  _ I’ll have you know,” Lance declared, “Right before our practicals, Hunk and I  _ always  _ watched  _ The Lion King _ . Perfect destressor.”

“Yup,” Hunk said with a nod, “We know every word to ‘Circle of Life’.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, “Even the stuff in a different language?”

“Especially the Zulu parts,” Lance said with a laugh, “Though, I guess it would automatically translate it into English if we sang it, huh?”

“Maybe the translator doesn’t work with music?” Keith prompted.

“Only one way to test the theory,” Pidge said with a smile, “You gotta sing it.”

“Oh, bet. Hunk, take it away!”

Hunk cleared his throat before sitting up straight and taking a deep breath. The team sat forward, expecting to hear the iconic Zulu words, but they were shocked by the translation.

“ _ Heeeere comes a lion, father! Oh yes, it’s a lion!” _

Hunk stopped, laughing too hard to continue singing, the rest of the team joining him,

“I guess it works on songs,” Shiro said between laughs.

“Hunk, I never knew you guys could sing,” Pidge said.

“You might if you bothered to hang out with us at the Garrison,” Hunk teased, “But yeah, I have a pretty small range, I’m better at beatboxing.  _ Lance  _ is the singer.”

“Oh Hunk, you flatter me,” Lance joked as he shoved Hunk playfully, “But yeah, whenever we were bored or needed a study break, we’d just jam. It was awesome!”

“Why don’t you show us,” Shiro prompted, “if you don’t mind?”

Hunk and Lance glanced at each other before grinning.

“Little do you know,” Lance said as he sat up and stretched his neck, “But I  _ adore  _ attention. Hit me with a beat.”

Hunk grinned as he licked his lips and began a simple beat, his voice dropping low to create the effect of a drum. Lance bobbed his head as he counted the beats, hopping in at his cue, snapping and clapping his hand on his thigh to keep time.

“ _ Now I’m out here lookin’ like revenge, feelin like a ten, the best I’ve ever been, and yeah~, I know how bad it must hurt to see me like this, but it gets worse.” _

Hunk paused in his beatboxing to add in a “ _ wait a minute _ ” before returning to the beat, and Lance returned to the words. His voice was melodious and sweet and smooth as hell. He’d obviously had some training, and had spent a  _ lot  _ of time singing, because he did it well. He and Hunk made it through the chorus before finishing and breaking out into laughter.

“Maybe I should’ve hung out with you guys more,” Pidge said with a smirk, “I probably would’ve gone viral if I caught that on video.”

“Just think,” Lance said with a dreamy sigh, “We could’ve been internet sensations. Oh, what a cruel world.”

“Do you know any song games?” Shiro asked.

“Actually, I do!” Lance perked up and shuffled closer, “I used to play them all the time at home, and I taught some to Hunk.” He turned to his friend with a grin, “Wanna teach them the ‘White Winter Hymnal’?”

“Oooh, you know I do! I love that one!”

“What is it?” Pidge asked.

“It’s easy,” Lance assured, “the song just repeats the words over and over again. So at first, it starts as a round, then once everyone joins, we all sing together, and there are hand movements to go with it. Here, watch.”

Hunk and Lance both sat up again, placing their hands over their chests and tapping them in a  _ one-two-rest _ beat, like a heartbeat.

Two beats in, Lance began to sing, “ _ I was following the – I was following the – _ ”

Then Hunk joined in with his deep tone, still following the beat.

“Then the rest of you would join in,” Lance said, “Then we go to the main part and you all just kinda join as you learn the words.”

“Let’s try it,” Shiro suggested.

“Wait, seriously?” Keith asked, “We’re doing this?”

Shiro shrugged, “It’s a team bonding exercise, right? At least this one doesn’t include bodily harm or invasion of privacy.”

Keith grumbled, but didn’t object, although the singing was the one he dreaded the most.

“Great!” Lance chirped, “So everyone keep the beat, just to keep it simple.”

He and Hunk started the beat, and the others slowly joined, falling into a rhythm. Once they had, Lance began to sing, then Hunk. After a moment, Shiro joined, then Pidge. After a couple repeats, even Keith joined, though he was quiet.

“Yeah!” Lance cheered once everyone had sang, “You got it! And now we go to the main part.”

He and Hunk took a breath before singing together, “ _ I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats, with scarves of red tied round their throats, to keep their little heads, from falling in the snow, then I turned round and there you go, and I thought you would fall, and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime. _ ”

Then the two picked up a complicated pattern with their hands, alternating between clapping, snapping, and rubbing them together to create a steady beat. When it started up again, Lance sang while Hunk returned to keeping the beat.

When the third round came, Shiro joined. He continued to keep time with his hand, and he stumbled over the words a bit, but they were repeated enough by the other two that it wasn’t long for him to get the hang of it.

A couple rounds after Shiro, Pidge joined as well, singing along. His voice was a little high and scratchy, but Hunk and Lance quickly adjusted themselves for it.

Keith again was the last to join, having trouble with the words. But the others kept their time, and Lance and Hunk did a good job of keeping them on beat, humming in between the rounds.

Coran paused at the entrance to the training deck, watching and listening in awe at the scene before him.

The Paladins were singing and playing like children on a cold day. They weren’t professional-sounding – far from it, honestly – but they certainly weren’t _ horrible _ , and each of them were smiling as they copied the hand movements, advancing to keep up the beat and change to challenge themselves.

Then the song ended and they laughed, and Coran entered with a grin. After all, the original Paladins had become friends before becoming Paladins. 

* * *

Allura hummed to herself as she tinkered with the security cameras in the control room.

“I’ve never been especially gifted with technology,” she told the mice, who sat on the console, watching her curiously as she scanned for the sensors, manually turning on the cameras, “Father and Coran say I take more after my mother – she was a Druid, you know. I don’t know nearly as much as she did, but I know more about magic than I do science. Ah!” She smiled as the cameras flickered to life, showing different parts of the castle, “I did it!”

The mice squeaked their congratulations, while Allura studied the screens. She swiped through the different cameras, making sure they were all in working order. 

It was when she reached the camera for the training deck that she scowled.

All of the Paladins sat on the floor, while Coran handed them water pouches. Lance and Hunk leaned against each other, and if it hadn’t been for the drink in his hand, Allura might have thought he’d fallen asleep again.

“I cannot  _ believe  _ this!” She huffed before storming her way through the castle to get to the training deck.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She demanded as she entered, “This is no time to relax! You still cannot form Voltron!”

“It’s alright, Princess,” Coran said with a smile, “We’ve been making some progress, and everyone was getting a bit wound up so we decided to take a quick break. We’ll be back to it in no time!”

“We don’t have time for breaks!” Allura argued, “Do you think Zarkon takes breaks?!”

“Well, he probably needs to sleep, right?” Pidge said.

“And eat,” Hunk added.

“And shit,” Keith said, earning him a light smack on the head from Shiro’s flesh arm. The other three Paladins laughed though – which sucked for Lance, as he had been in the middle of taking a drink, so the water shot out his nose, which only made everyone laugh even  _ harder _ .

“Enough!” Allura snapped, catching their attention. Shiro looked at her seriously, but the other four looked as though they were having a very hard time holding in their laughter, “Your break is over. It’s time for you to face the Gladiator.”

“Princess,” Coran said gently, “I don’t know if that’s such –”

“They had their rest, so they should be perfectly fit to fight the Gladiator.” Then Allura turned on her heel and marched to the observation room.

“Um, Coran,” Shiro asked, sounding a tad nervous, “What is the Gladiator?”

“Oh, it’s a training robot,” Coran said, “It’s designed for sparring. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it on a low setting – I know most of you don’t have a lot of experience in hand-to-hand combat.”

Shiro nodded, feeling a little more at ease. He hadn’t expected Allura to sic some monster on them, but he had a hard time getting the image of a purple beast out of his mind.

Then Coran collected their water pouches and had them stand in a circle. He counted down before a hole opened in the floor, revealing a white, humanoid robot. It didn’t have a face, just a giant blue orb in the centre of its head, holding a white and blue bo staff. It didn’t hesitate before lunging forward.

Hunk was its target, and he changed his bayard into the bazooka, but it was  _ heavy,  _ even for him, and he struggled with it just long enough for the Gladiator to hit him over the head with his staff and knock him to the side.

It went for Pidge next, backing him up as Pidge dodged the blows, using their Bayard to block the staff. Lance shot at it, but he missed, closer to Pidge than the Gladiator.

“Hey, watch it!” Pidge shrieked before getting smacked in the side by the gladiator and thrown across the room.

“Sorry!” Lance yelled as he continued shooting at the Gladiator. It was quick, and Lance was still trying to figure out the aim on his blaster. He managed to hit it once or twice, but the Gladiator didn’t go down. It got too close and Keith shoved him to the side, swinging at it with his sword. But his shove had left his footing unstable, and the Gladiator swept them out from under him, then knocked him back into Lance, sending them both flying.

It turned to Shiro and he activated his arm, getting into a steady stance. He was calm, he was safe, he had fought things  _ much  _ worse than this silly robot.

So why, when it approached, did it suddenly remind him of the Galra sentries that kept him hostage for a year? Why did his knees buckle and his head swim? Why did the white room suddenly shrink, turning into a black and purple cell as guards approached, off to drag him to his death or….

Keith and Lance were struggling to get up, but Keith stopped when he saw Shiro fall to his knees, clutching his head in his hands.

“Turn it off!” He yelled as he scrambled off of Lance, “Turn the damn thing off!”

The others saw what was happening and Lance sat up and took a shot, distracting the Gladiator. It turned and Keith slashed his sword across its chest, effectively disabling it. It crashed to the ground and disappeared in a hole, but the Paladins wasted no time on celebrating. Instead, they ran to Shiro, whose breaths had turned shallow and ragged, his eyes wide, visibly sweating underneath his helmet.

“Here,” Hunk said, kneeling down and gently taking Shiro’s helmet off, allowing him to breath a bit better, “Shiro, it’s okay, you’re safe.”

“What was that?” Allura demanded as she stepped off the observation room’s elevator, storming over to where the Paladins were gathered around Shiro. Coran hurried after her, looking concerned, “You could hardly handle the Gladiator, and it was set at a level fit for an Altean  _ child _ !”

“We told you to turn it off!” Keith snapped, rounding on Allura. She and Coran paused, surprised by how sharp his canines were, “Can’t you see Shiro’s not okay?!”

“This can’t happen in battle!” Allura snapped back, one of the few people not deterred by Keith’s temper, “A leader can’t just break down and leave the rest of his team scrambling!”

“Don’t you think he knows that?!” Keith snarled, “You think he  _ wants  _ this to happen? He was imprisoned by the Galra for a fucking  _ year _ ! They took his goddamned arm – his hair turned white from stress! That’s not natural for humans, just in case you missed that. So if he breaks down on the battlefield because he’s triggered by something, we don’t fucking blame him, and you have  _ no  _ right –”

“Keith,” Lance spoke up suddenly, interrupting him. He stood up, his Bayard put away, and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “The yelling isn’t helping.”

Keith’s snarl only deepened and he shrugged Lance’s hand off his shoulder, “I don’t need your –”

“Hunk and Pidge are calming him down,” Lance continued, his voice steady, though holding a bit of ice, “Why don’t you take a breather and I’ll explain it to Allura and Coran, alright?”

Keith looked back at Hunk and Pidge, who were talking quietly to Shiro. He had stopped sweating and his breathing evened out, so the danger had entirely passed.

“Fine.”

They watched him go before Lance sighed, crossing his arms, “Sorry he yelled at you guys – he’s always had a bad temper.”

“It’s alright,” Coran said, “I understand. What I don’t understand, however, is…?” He gestured vaguely at Shiro.

Lance glanced back and sighed again, “On Earth, the name for this is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Obviously Shiro hasn’t had time to get properly diagnosed but...well, it’s kinda obvious.” He glanced back, and Shiro was now sitting up properly, looking lucid, “It happens to people who experience something really bad or traumatic. Back at the Garrison, we had a bunch of mental health classes, since, y’know, it was a military school. Anyways, one of the major things we learned about was PTSD and how to help someone who was having an episode, so we know how to deal with it.”

“Hey,” Pidge said as Hunk helped Shiro to his feet, who was smiling weakly at him, “we’re gonna bring Shiro to his room for a bit to lie down.” Then he turned his amber owl eyes at Allura, a challenge in them.

Allura just nodded and waved her hand, then the others helped Shiro leave.

Once they were gone, Coran spoke.

“I do know of such a condition, although we called it Terror Prone. I should not be surprised, given Shiro’s...experience.”

“Yeah,” Lance said, “so trust us when we say that we’re  _ well  _ aware that it would be super dangerous if he’s triggered while we’re on the battlefield. We’re prepared to calm him down and bring him out of it, and Pidge and Keith said that he had a small flashback when they were on the Galra ship.” Lance drummed his fingers anxiously on his arm, the sound loudened by the armor, “We don’t really know what happened to him in the year he was taken – he doesn’t remember either, which isn’t a good sign. We know there was experimentation because his arm has been replaced, and he was forced to fight in some kind of gladiator ring, but other than that, we have no clue, so we have no clue what we should avoid. And I mean, we can’t avoid all his triggers, since we’re fighting the people who traumatized him.”

“I’m so sorry,” Allura said, one of her hands clutching over her chest, “I had no idea, I thought –”

“Hey, I get it,” Lance assured, “You didn’t know, it’s okay. I might suggest apologizing to Shiro though, and probably Keith.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Allura asked, “Anything we can do to calm him down?”

Lance shrugged, “Mostly just keep him safe until he comes back. Uh, don’t touch him – he could lash out at you, and avoid sudden movements too. Speak calmly and quietly, remind him where he is, that he’s safe, make sure he takes deep breaths. A good exercise is asking him to describe the room around him until he’s totally calmed down.”

“Thank you,” Allura said, “We’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Why don’t you go and rest?” Coran suggested, “I’ll get dinner ready and call you when it’s time to eat.”

“Thanks Coran, I’ll tell the others.”

“I’ll go find Keith,” Allura said, “I should apologize to him.”

Lance nodded, “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll uh, I’ll see you guys at dinner.”

Then he left, and Allura sighed, covering her face in her hands.

“I feel like an idiot.”

“It’s alright,” Coran said gently, laying a hand on her shoulder, “Just...maybe go easier on the Paladins.”

Allura lowered her hands, “But we’re at  _ war _ , Coran. We don’t have time for fun and games!”

“Fun and games are some things we need most,” Coran corrected, “It’s important to remember the good things in times like these. We’re both hurting, and I know you’re channeling your energy into whipping these Paladins into shape – it’s very admirable, and a sign of a good leader. But you’re still young, Allura. You’re allowed to give yourself time to enjoy things. As for the Paladins...they’re not like the ones we knew. They aren’t planetary leaders or warriors. They’re children, aside from Shiro. They’re untouched by the war, and they’re  _ trying  _ to get better, but they’re still green. They’re not like your father and his team, and it’ll take time to get there.” Coran lifted his hand to hold Allura’s cheek kindly, “The Paladins of old flew Voltron for over eighteen deca-phoebs, and you only knew them in their prime. Don’t expect these humans to reach that peak so quickly.”

Allura nodded before hugging Coran tightly.

“Thank you. Now...I suppose I should find Keith and apologize.”

“You don’t sound too excited,” Coran said with a gentle laugh.

“I’m not. Did you  _ see  _ his teeth?”

“I did!” Coran said as they let go, stepping back, “The other humans’ didn’t look  _ nearly  _ as sharp!”

“They almost look Galra,” Allura joked, “He even has the Galra temper.”

The two laughed as Allura left. She planned to go back to the bridge and search for Keith on the security cameras, but she actually bumped into him on her way there.

No, she  _ literally _ bumped into him. 

She was rounding a corner just as Keith was doing the same, coming the opposite way. They ran into each other before backing up.

“ Ah, sorry, I –”

“My bad, I wasn’t –”

They both paused, as they were speaking over each other. It was quiet for a moment, awkward. Keith crossed his arms and Allura cleared her throat.

“I, uh, I wanted to apologize. For yelling at you – and pushing you too, I suppose.” She sighed gently, “I”m sorry. I know you are all trying your best, and I have been a little harsh.”

“A little?” Keith asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t have his helmet on, instead tucked under his arm.

“Alright, maybe a  _ lot _ ,” she admitted with a huff, “But regardless, I am sorry, and I do promise to be a little easier on you.”

“Well, we are at war.” Keith sighed as he shifted his helmet to his hands, “We should be taking it seriously.”

“Yes, I agree. Well, we’re taking a break until dinner. We’ll call over the intercom once it’s ready.”

“Thanks,” Keith said with a nod before moving past her. She wondered if he knew where he was going.

* * *

Shiro sat cross-legged, his hands resting on his knees as he took deep breaths, focusing on the energy around him. 

_ I am safe. I am calm. I am one. _

“ _ Alright Paladins – dinner in five doboshes! _ ”

Shiro sighed as he was broken out of his meditation, standing up. He’d changed back into his normal clothes (well, technically they were Keith’s dad’s clothes, but Shiro needed them more) in an effort to calm himself down. He had to admit that he was a bit embarrassed at having a meltdown in front of the team, and in a training battle no less. However, he focused more on the pride he felt on how the team reacted. They’d done exactly what they were taught, and it helped immensely. Hunk and Pidge had told him that Keith stood up for him and took the robot down with Lance’s help in the end, and Shiro was happy to hear that. 

As he walked out of the room, he saw that the other Paladins were doing the same, each of them dressed in their civilian clothes as well.

“Hey,” Keith said as he walked up to him, the five of them making their way to the dining hall, “how’re you feeling?”

“A lot better, thanks to you guys,” Shiro said with a smile, “Sorry if I freaked you out a little.”

“No worries,” Hunk assured, “We’re glad to help! Now, what do you guys think Coran made for us?”

“Probably more food goo,” Lance said with a groan, “It’s all we’ve eaten since we got here.”

“Maybe they found some ingredients while they were working on the castle,” Pidge suggested.

“Ingredients that survived for ten thousand years?” Keith asked, wrinkling his nose, “I don’t know if I wanna eat those.”

The rest of them chatted idly, mostly about food, which only made them hungrier. When they arrived at the dining hall, they had to admit that they were disappointed to see food goo sitting on their plates.

“Shiro!” Allura said as she saw him enter. She sat at the head of the table – wearing a pretty blue dress – but she stood when she saw him, “How are you?”

“I’m good, thanks,” Shiro assured with a smile, “No need to worry.”

“I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier,” she apologized, “and for pushing so hard.”

“I understand – and besides, I don’t actually remember you yelling at me in the training room, so no worries there.”

She laughed awkwardly and the rest took their seats.

“That being said…” Allura said with a smirk, “You do need to learn to work better as a team.” Then she nodded at Coran and he whipped out a small remote.

Before the Paladins could ask what the hell was happening, handcuffs shot out from their chairs, linking around their wrists and then snapping to the person next to them. Within a second, they were each cuffed to the people beside them, and tugging allowed only a couple centimetres of space.

“Coran,” Shiro said, trying to keep his cool because he was hungry and tired and he did not want to be cuffed to Hunk (no offense Hunk), “What is this?”

“They’re handcuffs!” Coran said proudly, “You’ve each got good strengths individually, but as Allura said, you need to learn to work as a team. So, for this exercise, you will feed each other!”

There was a brief moment of silence before Pidge spoke.

“Uh, no.”

“Yeah!” Keith snapped, raising his arms, which raised Pidge’s and Lance’s as well, “We’re not things you can just play with, like, like –”

“Like toys!” Lance interjected.

“Thank you, Lance!”

“Oh don’t thank him yet,” Hunk said, “He’s right-handed.”

“So?”

“You’re cuffed to his left.”

“Why don’t we just eat,” Shiro offered, “and then go back to bonding exercises?”

“Nope!” Coran chirped, “Nothing will bond you like feeding each other!”

Every single one of the Paladins looked disappointed and disgusted.

Allura (having no handcuffs) ate her dinner with no problem, although she was thoroughly annoyed by the bickering of the Paladins.

They had, in a moment of shared spite, decided to not feed each other and just try to feed themselves, leaving those attached to them to struggle along. The order was thus: Pidge, Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Shiro. No one was happy about it.

They were constantly moving, accidentally shoving sporks in faces, dropping goo on the table, and snapping at each other. Even Shiro said something icy once or twice to Hunk, but then felt  _ immediately  _ bad about it because Hunk looked like he had been hit. But then he’d tug and Shiro’s arm would end up in a plate of goo and he’d die inside because it was his  _ metal  _ arm and it would be  _ impossible  _ to get out between the plates of metal.

“You know,” Lance said in an attempt to lighten the mood, “you’d think I’d be used to being in handcuffs by now.”

“You never get used to them,” Keith said with a sigh.

“Wait,” Hunk said, leaning forward (Shiro swore quietly as food got away from him), “you’ve been in handcuffs before?”

“Yeah, I’ve been arrested like, four times,” he replied, then turned to Lance, “Why were  _ you  _ arrested?”

Lance’s face seemed to darken a bit and he looked down at his plate in front of him, before speaking with a sheepish smile, “Oh, uh, I’ve never been arrested.”

“Then why…?” Keith stopped himself once he understood, and he could feel his face heating up to an embarrassing level. He yanked away from Lance, jostling Pidge, “Ugh!”

“Hey!” Pidge protested as his hand banged on the table.

“C’mon Lance, seriously?” Shiro asked, not bothering to mask his annoyance.

“Everyone calm down,” Hunk said, “it’s not what you think.”

“Hunk!” Lance snapped, now redder than ever, “Don’t you dare!”

Hunk grinned, “Lance used to be  _ super  _ into magic as a kid. His big trick was getting out of handcuffs.”

“Hunk, you traitor!”

“So why don’t you get out of these?” Pidge asked.

“Or is that too much for Lance the Magnificent?” Keith teased with a smirk.

“His name was Lance the Limitless, actually.”

That earned a laugh from the others, and Lance scowled.

“Hey! I was eight and had just learned a bunch of English! At least I grew out of my magic – looks like Keith is still stuck in his emo phase.”

“Excuse me?” Keith asked, the smile sliding from his face, “Did you just call me...emo?”

“Oh I’m sorry – would you have preferred ‘Gerard Way wannabe’?”

“Ooh, good one Lance!” Hunk cheered.

“Great, now he’s got his own cheerleading squad,” Keith snarled.

“Ah – he said we’re not hot enough to be cheerleaders,” Pidge interjected with a huff.

“Except for me and Shiro,” Lance corrected, and Shiro only sighed. He was too tired to deal with this shit.

“ENOUGH!” Allura yelled, slamming her hands on the table and glaring at the Paladins, “None of you can get along for  _ five doboshes _ !”

“Well maybe if you hadn’t handcuffed us together!” Keith retorted.

“Do  _ not  _ talk to the princess like that!” Coran interjected.

“Oh, the princess of  _ what _ ?!” Pidge cried, catching everyone’s attention, “We’re the only ones out here, and guess what? We come from a DEMOCRACY, fuckos!”

“Language!”

Before Pidge could tell Shiro to stuff it, he suddenly felt something wet and gooey hit his face, splattering over his glasses. 

Allura stood poised over her seat, spork in hand, hand pulled back from having just flicked it at Pidge. There was a moment of silence as everyone processed what happened before Keith spoke.

“Okay, that’s  _ it _ . Go loose, Pidge!”

Pidge did as he was told, and Keith grabbed his plate and flung it at Allura. She raised her arms to shield herself from the flying goo, but Coran intercepted it with a towel, flinging back a sporkful. It hit short, smacking Lance’s face.

“Oh, it’s on!” Hunk let his face drop into his plate, getting a large mouthful before coming up for air and slamming his hands on his cheeks, spewing the food at Allura. Neither of them had been expecting that, so it splattered all over her.

Allura was quickly spurred to action, grabbing her plate and running across the other side of the table, flinging it at the Paladins as they hit back at her and Coran. They quickly got into it, Lance and Pidge even using Keith as a shield at one point. They were all laughing as they flung the goo at each other.

Once everyone was covered in goo and their plates were empty, they all stopped to catch their breath. The Paladins glanced at each other and promptly burst into laughter. They looked  _ ridiculous _ , and had just been in a food fight with some aliens in an ancient castle. How could they not laugh?

“Don’t you see what you’re doing?” Allura cried, silencing them. Then she lifted her head and beamed at the group, some bits of goo sticking in her curly hair, “You’re finally working together!”

“Hey, I guess we are!” Hunk said with a smile.

“Y’know…” Lance said, looking at Keith, “I actually don’t hate you right now.” He bumped his shoulder playfully, and the two chuckled.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Shiro said, “how about we give Voltron one last go for the night?”

The team cheered in response, but Pidge wrinkled his nose, “Maybe after we shower.”

“Good idea,” Shiro said. He stepped back, momentarily forgetting the cuff on his hand (as he couldn’t feel it) and stumbled. It caused Hunk to trip too, following Shiro down before bringing down the rest of the team in a gentle, awkward fall. They all laughed again, at themselves and each other.

Keith took a breath and turned over to say something to Lance, but the words quickly died on his tongue when he saw Lance’s face.

Like the rest of them, it had splotches of food goo on it. His eyes were squeezed shut as he laughed, and there was a slight dust of red to his cheeks and ears, highlighting his freckles. His laugh was bubbly and energetic and honestly really cute – Keith couldn’t help but smile at the sound of it.

_ Oh no. He’s cute! _

Lance opened his eyes and noticed Keith staring at him, so he raised an eyebrow at Keith, “What?”

“Nothing.” Keith looked away, and decided that  _ no matter what _ , he would  _ not  _ get a crush on Lance.

* * *

Haggar watched the procedure with interest, looking up at the large, motionless robot in front of her. It was as large as Voltron – or so she guessed based on Zarkon’s knowledge. A commotion down below her balcony caught her attention, and she saw the beast being loaded into a coffin hooked up to the robot. 

He was loud, and seemed to be finally understanding what was happening. But the Druids got him into the coffin with little trouble, the door shutting with a loud  _ clang.  _ The Druids went to the controls and the coffin soon began to glow, as did the wires, the energy and quintessence slowly feeding into the giant robot. The beast’s screams were loud, even blocked by the thick metal. But as its quintessence fed more into the robot, and its eyes began to glow, the screams grew quieter, until they were silent.

Slowly, the robot lifted its head, and Haggar grinned.

* * *

The Paladins flew out of their peaks (including Hunk this time) and converged on Shiro as they flew around the castle.

“Alright team, you ready to do this?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah!” The team called as they rounded back in front.

“Okay – let’s form Voltron!”

The team cheered as they felt the same sensations as before: being pulled together, slowly joining into one consciousness that also happened in the blink of an eye, feeling the power surge through them, opening their eyes to look through the eyes of Voltron.

The team cheered as they flew around, getting a feel for moving together as Voltron before landing on the flat below the castle hill.

“They did it!” Allura cheered on the bridge, where she and Coran watched the team, “Oh, this is wonderful! Now we finally stand a chance against Zarkon!”

“The team still has a long way to go,” Corna reminded her, and he smiled, “but this is a great step forward.”

* * *

After practicing for a little bit, the team returned to the lounge, still in their armor, too excited about their development to change.

“That was awesome!” Lance said waving his arms excitedly, “And I mean, the first one was too, but this was  _ way  _ more fun!”

“Yeah,” Keith said with a derisive sort of laugh, “not being caught under threat of death makes everything more fun.”

“Hey guys, Keith made a joke!” Lance said, leaning across Hunk and punching him lightly, “He must be in a good mood.”

“You guys…” Hunk said, wrapping his arms around Lance and Keith and pulling them in close, sounding weepy, “This is awesome. We’re like, bonded now. For  _ life.  _ No secrets between us, nothing. We’re brothers. Forever.”

“You sound like you’re gonna start making friendship bracelets,” Keith said as he wriggled out of Hunk’s grip, while Lance remained, throwing an arm around Hunk in return.

“Yeah man,” he said, “Are you high? Have you been holding out on me?”

“Haha, no – it’s just been a weird couple of days. I’m also very tired.”

“Same here,” Keith said, “as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out.”

“What’re you guys talking about?” Lance said, “I feel like I could go a couple rounds with that furry guy!”

“Maybe because you sleep for twelve hours a day,” Pidge said, earning a laugh from the team.

“Let’s call it a night,” Shiro said as he stood, “We’ve got another big day of training ahead of us.”

“I wonder how we’ll wake Lance up tomorrow,” Hunk said as he and Lance stood, followed by Keith.

“I swear to God, if you do that smothering thing again, I will kill you. I’m starting to think Keith’s got a choking kink.”

“Oh  _ shut up _ , Lance,” Keith snapped, but Lance only stuck his tongue out childishly.

Shiro laughed and turned to see Pidge playing with the mice, sitting in the same spot as before.

“Hey, Pidge – you coming to bed?”

“Uh, in a bit.”

The way he glanced up, the way he held himself – Shiro knew he was uncomfortable, and he had a pretty good idea as to why. However, they were all tired, and he wasn’t about to push Pidge into admitting something he wasn’t ready for.

“Right, don’t stay up too late.”

“Sure, Shiro.”

Shiro nodded before following the other three to the rooms. Hunk and Lance were laughing, joking about something. Keith fell back so he was walking behind with Shiro. It was quiet between them, but comfortable – Shiro had learned early on that Keith was not a man of many words, and silence was common between them.

That silence was broken when Keith noticed Shiro smiling at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Shiro said, looking ahead to the other two boys, “just glad to see you making friends.”

Keith scoffed, “I’d hardly call us  _ friends. _ We’re stuck in an intergalactic war together.”

“Sure.”

“We’re not friends.”

“Whatever you say, Keith.”

Keith scowled, but it turned into a small smile when Lance made a joke to Hunk, causing both of them to laugh again.

_ Certainly  _ not friends. 


	6. Klaizap, The Lion Goddess, and Myzax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WOW ok this is literally 19 goddamn pages. Why do I do this to myself.
> 
> Also, I figured out that instead of trying to describe everything in detail, I'm just gonna add pictures, bc this is already based off of a visual medium. As always, I release the chapters a week early on my patreon!
> 
> Thanks again for your support, and happy reading:)

Zarkon stood on a platform hovering over the void of space, with Druids in four cardinal directions. They were currently blasting him with energy, manifesting as purple lightning. It was the Druids’ way of channelling quintessence, of granting Zarkon endless energy.

As Haggar entered the chamber, modified so it looked into space but created its own gravity and oxygen, the other Druids stopped. Zarkon turned to face her and she bowed deeply.

“Why do you disturb me?” He growled.

“The beast is almost at Arus,” she explained, “Soon, it will face Voltron.”

“Hmm.” Zarkon looked down at his hands, still crackling with energy, “With quintessence this powerful, I could fight Voltron myself.”

Haggar nodded, “Of course, sire. But let the beast take care of them for now. We shall see how good these new Paladins are.”

* * *

“Good job today guys,” Shiro said as he, Keith, Hunk, and Lance entered the lounge in their Paladin armor, “I think we’re really starting to get the hang of Voltron.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “did you  _ see  _ how far I kicked that Galra fighter jet? It must’ve gone, like, a mile!”

“I’m sure it’ll come in real handy,” Keith scoffed, “if the Galra ever challenge us to a soccer match.”

“Oh, if it’s soccer, I  _ can’t  _ lose,” Lance bragged, “You know, if the Garrison thing didn’t work out, I was gonna be a soccer star, play for the Cuban national team. So, just admit that I did something cool.”

“It wasn’t cool,” Keith replied coldly, “it threw our balance. We fell.”

“Hey! Not my fault Hunk couldn’t keep us steady!”

“Don’t pin it on me!” Hunk protested, “I thought the kick was cool!”

“Alright,” Shiro said with a sigh as he sat down, “We made mistakes, but we all did very well. Lance, the kick could come in handy, but we need to be careful that we don’t lose our balance.”

That seemed to be enough for them, because the boys quickly started talking about Voltron, rather than Lance’s soccer skills. Shiro sighed and let his head fall back against the cushions. Man, he thought  _ Keith  _ was bad, but Lance was just fuel to his fire.

Just then, Coran came through one of the doors, beaming when he saw the team, “Ah, perfect! I saw you had all finished your training, and I made you a traditional Paladin snack! Where’s Green?”

“Pidge is in the medbay,” Lance said with a wave of his hand, leaning against Hunk, “Waiting for the prisoners. Again.”

“Well, the snack is ready if you want!”

“Sure,” Shiro said with a smile, getting up and following Coran into the dining room, the other three doing the same.

However, they paused when they saw the purple mound with yellow...worms? Coming out of it.

“Coran…” Shiro said, “What is that?”

“It’s an ancient Paladin snack, from Rygnirath!”

“And by ancient, do you mean it’s an ancient recipe?” Keith asked, looking at it warily.

“Nope! Urulems have incredibly long shelf lives!”

Tentatively, Hunk took a spork and poked at it. One of the yellow things in the centre was pulled out, releasing a ghastly odour and an actual cloud of purple gas.

Keith, Lance, and Hunk each gagged. Shiro was standing away from it, but he took another step back.

“Coran!” Lance complained, “That  _ reeks _ !”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed, pinching his nose, “That is rank.”

“It smells like the boys’ locker room after fitness testing,” Keith said.

“That’s how you know it’s healthy!”

“Coran,” Hunk said as he carefully set down the spork, “we are on a planet  _ filled  _ with fresh herbs, spices, and tubers. I’ve actually collected a few and dried some. And I found an intergalactic guide to herbs – we can learn to cook with them.”

“Where’d you find that?” Lance asked.

“Pidge has been going through the castle’s files,” Hunk explained, “It’s all on this like, online database. It’s crazy.”

“Speaking of Pidge, I’m gonna go check on him and the prisoners,” Shiro said.

Shiro grabbed his helmet from where it rested on the table and Coran swooped in, some of the yellow worm thing on a spork.

“ _ Brbrbrbr,  _ open up for the Lion!” He said in a childish voice, poking the spork towards Shiro’s mouth. He grinned eagerly, but Shiro just wrinkled his nose and moved around the spork.

“No. Just – no.”

“I’m going to make some  _ real _ food,” Hunk declared before heading into the kitchen. Lance glanced at Keith and grinned.

“Dare you to eat that.”

Keith glared at Lance and opened his mouth to accept it, but he choked when the smell once again hit him.

“Okay,  _ no _ ,” Keith said as he caught his breath, clutching his nose, “I’m not one to back down from a dare but...no.”

“I can’t really blame you for that. That looks like the time my niece Nadia stuck some Play-Doh in her Easy Bake Oven. Bet her rainbow pie tastes better than this.”

“Alright, I get it!” Coran snapped, grabbing the plate and yanking it off the table. To their horror, it  _ jiggled _ , “I’ll just enjoy it myself.”

The two boys waited until Coran left, the door sliding shut behind him, before they burst out into laughter. 

For a moment, it seemed as though the two were actually friends, laughing together over a joke.

“I’m gonna go train,” Keith said after he calmed down, “You wanna come?”

“We  _ just  _ finished training,” Lance replied, “I’m gonna take a nap.”

“Seriously? We could work on hand-to-hand combat.”

“No thank you.”

“Lazy-ass.”

“Dropout.”

And just like that, they were rivals again.

* * *

Pidge rubbed his eyes as he stared at the screen. He’d gone from staring at holograms and looking through Voltron’s eyes to staring at a laptop an inch from his face. That couldn’t have been good for his eyes.

Of course, Coran and Allura said that seeing through Voltron’s eyes was like using their third eye or something. In all honesty, Pidge still didn’t get the whole mystical part of it. The Alteans seemed adamant that magic and science were two sides of the same coin, but Pidge didn’t buy it. Magic was just science they didn’t understand yet. And Voltron was very...advanced.

Just then, Rover beeped and Pidge turned around to see Shiro enter the medbay. He came and sat beside Pidge, jerking his chin towards their laptop.

“What are you working on?”

“Going through the castle’s databases,” Pidge admitted with a shrug, “Translating it. Not manually, of course – I made a translating software.”

“How’d you do that?”

“It was easy, honestly. Coran showed me how to access the Altean translator and I just combined it with the English one. Twice as effective now.”

“That’s incredible.”

Pidge smiled, then sighed as he turned to look at the row of pods, still filled with prisoners.

“I wish they’d heal up sooner. I  _ wanted  _ to see if I could make the healing pods more effective, but Coran told me not to mess with them.”

“Probably for the best,” Shiro admitted, “I can’t imagine it would be a good idea to mess with medical tech. Normal tech is one thing, but medicine is something different altogether.”

“Yeah, it’s why I’ve listened to him. I just...I  _ need  _ to know.” Pidge turned his wide owl eyes to Shiro, “They recognized you. They must know where Matt and Dad are, or at least saw them.”

“The old one,” Shiro said, gesturing toward his pod, “I... _ vaguely _ recognize him, and he certainly seems to recognize me.”

“The teletubby?”

Shiro laughed, “Yeah, the teletubby.”

“So...how do you know him? Any idea why they called you Champion? Aside from the glowing arm, I mean.”

Shiro shrugged, “It’s hard to say. If I had to take a guess, I’d say it was because I survived the ring a lot longer than the other prisoners. It’s all such a blur, it’s hard for me to say anything concrete.”

“Did you ever talk to them?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah. Well, we  _ tried. _ We didn’t have the same universal translators we have now. We just kind of guessed what everyone was saying, used a lot of gestures. But...I don’t like how scared they seemed of me.” Shiro frowned as he looked at the pods, “I’m almost scared to find out what happened.”

“Yeah,” Pidge agreed quietly, “Me too.”

* * *

It didn’t take Hunk long to whip something up. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his Paladin armor, too excited to finally cook again. He tested the food a couple of times and while it didn’t turn out how he expected, he was still satisfied with it.

He called Lance first (Pidge and Coran had worked together to set up their cell phones to at least work within the castle) and woke him up from a nap, promising food. Then he called Keith, who paused his training.

The two wasted no time in rushing to the dining room, each still in their Paladin armor (Lance had just passed out in the lounge). They sat beside each other as Hunk laid out the dishes, colourful and unique and pretty and looking absolutely  _ delicious. _

“Bon appètit!” Hunk said with a grin, signalling that it was okay to eat.

Lance dove in immediately, but Keith was a little more tentative – these  _ were  _ alien plants they were dealing with. Still, he tried a bite and decided to throw caution to the wind. It couldn’t hurt if it tasted this good. Of course, Keith maybe wasn’t the best judge, as he had a bad habit of gorging himself on ice cream treats despite being lactose intolerant.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Hunk!” Lance declared through a mouthful of roasted berries.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Keith said before shoving a sporkful of grilled vegetables in his mouth.

“Oh yeah,” Hunk said as he sat down across from them, “my mom’s a head chef at this fancy restaurant back home in Hawaii, and my dad runs a traditional apothecary, so I know a lot about herbs and cooking. Back at the Garrison, when Lance and I were homesick, we’d sneak into the commissary and I’d make us food.”

Just then, Coran walked in. He scowled when he saw the Paladins eating heartily, but Hunk only grinned at him.

“Hey, Coran! I made you some too!”

Figuring that it would be incredibly rude to deny him, Coran sat down in his regular seat and Hunk slid a bowl over to him. He looked at the soft colours, silently noting that dull colours usually signified dull taste. 

With low expectations, he took a bite of the food.

It took every bit of willpower in him not to moan.

“How is it?” Hunk asked, with a kind smile that meant he  _ knew  _ it was damn good, but Coran might not be willing to admit it.

“It’s alright,” Coran admitted, taking another small bite. 

Allura walked into the room, wearing a long skirt and a pretty blouse, the mice sitting on her shoulders. She stopped when she saw the Paladins eating.

“I see you’re all enjoying a Paladin lunch!”

“Oh, Hunk made it!” Lance said, “You should try it.”

“You can have mine,” Coran offered, handing Allura his bowl. It physically hurt him to do so.

Allura took a bite and she actually did moan a little bit in pleasure and surprise (Lance opened his mouth to say something, but warning looks from both Hunk and Keith had him filling it instead).

“Hunk, this is delicious!”

“Thanks!”

Coran huffed and left the room.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Allura said, “I got our last nebulon booster up and running, so we should be good to leave Arus by tomorrow, and take the fight to Zarkon!”

The three Paladins glanced at each other before Keith spoke.

“You really think we’re ready to face Zarkon head-on?”

“Dear Ancients,  _ no! _ ” Allura sighed, “It’s not going to be quick, like Shiro said. We have to build our own army first.”

Before anyone could say anything else, an alarm blared. All four of them rose from their seats as Allura waved her hand, a holographic screen coming to life.

“There’s...someone approaching the castle,” she said, switching to cameras to show the front entrance. They all watched as a small alien approached the castle, jumping from rock to rock. He was short, with yellow skin and a thick, flat tail, as well as curling horns that looked almost like a shell on his head. He held a small sword as he hid in the bushes.

Just then, Keith’s phone rang and he answered it.

“ _ Keith, _ ” Shiro said, “ _ we heard the alarm, what’s going on? _ ”

“Is that Shiro?” Lance asked, “Here, put him on speaker.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he said, but Keith did as Lance told him, and Shiro spoke again.

“ _ Princess, what’s happening?” _

“It looks like an Arusian,” she said, watching the creature poke its head above a rock, “Coran and I scanned for life – it’s likely they’re from the settlement on the hill northeast of us.”

“ _ Do they look dangerous?” _

“Nah, they’re kinda cute,” Lance admitted, “I kinda wanna knit them a sweater.”

“Or little hats for their horns,” Hunk agreed.

“Are you serious?” Keith cried, “They could be dangerous!”

“Dude, they’re like, a foot tall,” Lance scoffed, “You could punt them like a soccerball if you really wanted to.”

“But you’d be kind of a dick if you did,” Hunk said.

“No one is  _ punting _ anything,” Allura interjected, “Alteans believe in peace and trust; we must always extend the hand of diplomacy first. We should go and greet them. Shiro, we can handle it – you and Pidge should stay with the refugees.”

“ _ Yes, Princess. Call us if something goes wrong.” _

Keith hung up and Allura silenced the alarm. The four of them went to the main entrance of the castle while the mice remained behind, the giant doors opening before them. The alien gasped and ducked behind a large rock.

“We know you’re there,” Allura called out, “It’s alright! We’re not going to hurt you, you can come out!”

There was a moment of hesitation before the alien jumped out, yelling indignantly as they brandished their little sword.

“Drop the weapon!” Keith yelled, his bayard shifting to his sword as he stepped in front.

“Woah, Keith buddy, maybe chill a bit?” Lance said, “Their sword is like a  _ toothpick,  _ okay?”

“Nobody take’s Klaizap’s weapon!” They declared, gripping their sword.

“Keith,” Allura said, shooting him a dangerous look, “ _ stand down _ .”

Keith scowled, glancing at the Arusian, but he did as he was told, his bayard disappearing into his armor.

“Thank you,” she said before sighing and turning back to the alien with a smile, “I’m sorry about that, we’ve just been a bit on edge lately. May I ask who you are?”

“I am Klaizap!” They declared, slamming their sword into the ground, “I am the bravest warrior of Gazrel Hill Village! I have come searching for answers as to why the Lion Goddess has become so angry with her loyal followers.”

“Lion Goddess?” Allura asked.

Klaizap gestured with their sword to a rock, which was carved with images of Voltron in a dress, “The great and merciful Lion Goddess.”

“So they think we’re gods,” Hunk whispered to the other two boys.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Lance whispered back, not bothering to hide his excitement, “Guys! This is  _ just  _ like  _ Road to El Dorado! _ Do you think we can get them to give us a bunch of gold and a cool boat?”

“Shut up, Lance,” Keith hissed.

Allura did her best to ignore the Paladins behind her and focused on Klaizap.

“What makes you think the Lion Goddess is angry with you?” She asked gently. 

“Over the last few sunturns,” Klaizap began to explain, “there has been destruction! Fire raining down from the sky, titans battling, shaking the ground!”

“I’m sorry to have scared all of you, but the Lion Goddess isn’t angry,” Allura assured.

Klaizap narrowed their eyes, “How would you know?”

“Because my name is Princess Allura,” she said with a smile, “and this is my castle. These are the Paladins of Voltron, your Lion Goddess. We would be happy to answer all of your questions.”

Klaizap gasped before stabbing their sword in the ground and fell to their knees, splaying their hands out in front of them, “Oh, great Lion Goddess!” Then they began to pray quietly.

“Guys, this is  _ literally  _ like the movie!” Lance insisted quietly, “He even looks like the armadillo!”

“Please, rise,” Allura said, once again ignoring Lance. Klaizap did stand again, staring at her with wide eyes, “May you please take us to your village? We would be happy to speak with your leaders and help out however we can, as well as explain everything that’s happened recently.”

“Are you sure we have time for this?” Keith asked, glancing at Klaizap, “Shouldn’t we be working on the castle, or training?”

“The Paladins are also responsible for spreading peace and diplomacy,” Allura informed him, “And I think a wonderful place to start would be with the Arusians, don’t you?”

“ _ I  _ think it’s a wonderful idea!” Lance declared, “Take us to your leader!”

Back in the medbay, the prisoners had been released from the pods. Shiro and Pidge made quick work of gathering blankets and serving each refugee calming tea that Coran had on hand.

“Thank you,” the old teletubby said, “I thought that all hope had been lost.”

“If you don’t mind,” Pidge said softly, “How long were you guys in there?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted with a shaky sigh, “Time is so difficult with the Galra. It could have been quintants or deca-phoebs, I have no idea. Everything blurs together, even the faces. Even you look familiar to me.”

“Maybe you saw my family,” Pidge offered hopefully, “My brother and father, Matt and Samuel Holt. They were taken with Shiro.”

The teletubby nodded, “Yes, yes I do remember seeing two other Earthlings with Champion, though I never learned their names.”

Shiro, who stood nearby, heard it. He straightened up and came over with a slight frown.

“My name is Shiro,” he said gently, “What’s yours? And why do you call me ‘Champion’?”

“I-I am Tesen,” he said, “And...you truly don’t remember? You were a legendary warrior, undefeated in Zarkon’s gladiator ring.”

“Well, Tesen,” Shiro said, lifting his metal hand to his head, “human brains have a defense mechanism, where if a memory is too damaging or traumatizing, it’ll be repressed. I clearly didn’t have a very good time, since I don’t remember most of my time with the Galra.”

“That’s...understandable.” Tesen sighed deeply, “It was not a pleasant experience, but I remember. I was there when you  _ became  _ Champion.” Tesen took another deep breath before gathering the blanket around him even tighter, “I was a part of the load that was with Cha– er,  _ Shiro _ . We were sorted into two categories: workers and gladiators. The older Earthling was sent to the work camps, while the two younger Earthlings were selected for the gladiator ring.”

“Do you know where my father was sent?” Pidge asked.

Tesen shook his head, “No, I’m sorry.”

“So, what happened? Once we were chosen for gladiators?” Shiro prompted.

“We were all shipped off to the gladiator ring in Zarkon’s base,” Tesen continued, “We were supposed to fight Myzax – a ferocious, genetically-altered beast from a planet of warriors. He was undefeated, and we were meant to be fodder for him, lined up to be slaughtered like animals. The other Earthling –”

“Matt? My brother?” Pidge asked.

“Yes, he looked a lot like you. This Matt, he was up first, and he was nervous. We all were. Everyone except for the Champion.” At this, he turned to Shiro with wide, fearful eyes, gripping his blanket tightly, “You...you were  _ excited. _ You wanted to fight, and you were so thirsty for blood, you attacked your fellow Earthling and injured him, just to ensure your chance to fight. We all thought you would be killed the second you entered the ring, but you defeated Myzax single-handedly. You were taken from us, put up against more and more dangerous gladiators. We only heard tales of you, and I hoped I’d never face you again, because it would most likely be in the ring.”

“What happened to Matt?” Pidge insisted, “After he was injured, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Tesen admitted, “I heard rumours that he was healed and meant to be taken away to the prison camps, but I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Pidge suddenly felt tears well up in his eyes. He rounded on Shiro furiously.

“You attacked my brother!” He cried, pointing an accusing finger, “And we could’ve rescued him with the others! Why did you attack him?! He was your friend!”

“I-I don’t know,” Shiro admitted, “I still don’t remember, but I have no idea why I would attack him! Are you  _ sure  _ I attacked Matt?”

“I am certain of it,” Tesen said, shrinking back a bit.

“Why were you all on that ship?” Pidge asked.

“We’re old, weak, or sick,” Tesen explained, “We were being transported to work camps, or for experimentation. We don’t know.”

“But their ship would,” Shiro realized, “It’ll have a database for all of the prisoners, at least on the ship, right?”

“And Coran said they’re all connected, so if we can somehow get to the mainframe,” Pidge added, “we could scan the whole database! The ship crashed not far from here, we should go.”

“Let’s go,” Shiro agreed, “I’ll get Coran and let him know.” Then he turned to Tesen, “I’m sorry if we frightened you, but you’re safe now.”

Tesen smiled, “Thank you, Champion.”

* * *

Klaizap had informed the group that it had taken him several days to cross the hills and valley to come up to the castle, so they decided to save everyone some time and hitch a ride in their Lions.

Lance offered to have Allura ride in Blue with him, but she politely declined – apparently her father had piloted the Red Lion, so she was most comfortable with that one. Instead, Lance got to give Klaizap a ride.

It took them about thirty seconds for them to get to the Arusian village on the hill over. The Arusians down below watched in shock and awe as the three Lions landed, the Paladins, Allura, and Klaizap disembarking. 

“Behold!” Klaizap announced as they entered the village, “For I have brought the Lion Goddess and her Paladins!”

“I wonder if they’ll throw us a party,” Lance wondered, “That would be sick.”

Klaizap led them to the village square, past houses that barely made it up to their shoulders. The tallest and largest building was about Allura’s height in the very centre, and an older Arusian with a cane stepped forward.

“King Atorm,” Klaizap said as he knelt, “I present to you the Lion Goddess Allura and her Paladins.”

“Oh great Lion Goddess!” Atorm said as he knelt, the rest of the Arusians following his lead, “As King of the Arusians, I now formally and humbly beg for your forgiveness. Please, have mercy on our souls, for we know not what we have done to gain your ire. I hope you accept this traditional Dance of Apology from our best dancer, Moontoe.”

Before the others could react, a young Arusian came out from the large building in colourful garb, followed by a couple of musicians. They began to play a quick yet somehow mournful tune as Moontoe began to dance. It was strange but beautiful, and she began to dance on her toes, using them to move.

“Is it just me or are their feet kinda creepy?” Lance whispered to Hunk.

“Oh yeah, they’re like little racoon hands,” Hunk agreed quietly.

“All feet are gross,” Keith whispered back, “They’re  _ feet. _ ”

“So we know Keith doesn’t have a foot fetish,” Lance joked, earning a quiet laugh from Hunk.

“Please,” Allura interjected with a weary smile, “An apology dance is not necessary, really.”

“Stop the dance!” Atorm commanded, the music and Moontoe halting, “The Lion Goddess has not accepted the Dance of Apology! We must light the Sacrificial Fire!”

“The Sacrificial what now?” Allura asked.

And then a pyre near them was lit, flaming up as tall as any of the buildings. So, like, a little bit bigger than a good campfire.

“Prepare the sacrifice!” Atorm declared.

“Maybe it’s just like, food, or something,” Hunk offered.

“Yeah!” Lance agreed, “Lots of things can be sacrificed!”

“Nope, I think they’re sacrificing one of their own,” Keith said, the amusement plain in his voice, “Check it out.”

Sure enough, a group of Arusians carried another Arusian tied up on a spit towards the giant pyre, chanting and praying.

“Oh my god,” Hunk said.

“Now we’re talking,” Keith said.

“Dude, c’mon!” Lance cried.

“No, wait!” Allura yelled, catching everyone’s attention, “No sacrifice! We will not be doing any sacrifices!”

“Why not?” Atorm asked innocently.

“Um…” Allura said, glancing at the Paladins for help.

“The stars!” Lance suddenly declared, stepping forward and pointing at the sky, “They’re not in position! We can’t do it. Not today.”

“Uh, yes!” Allura agreed, “We simply cannot do it. Like Lance said, not today.”

“Oh, I see. May we proceed with the Dance of Apology?” Atorm asked.

“Sure,” Allura said, deciding it would be far better to sit through the strange dance than to let someone burn to death.

While Moontoe continued her dance, Lance and Hunk high-fived discreetly in the back, because that was the slickest reference Lance had ever made.

Soon, the dance was over and everyone applauded as Moontoe stopped. Then they each turned to Allura and the Paladins and knelt before them; on their knees, their hands splayed in front of them, heads down.

“This is not as fun as I thought it would be,” Lance mumbled.

“Please, rise,” Allura said, meeting Atorm’s shocked eyes, “I am not a cosmic being worthy of your praise – I’m merely an Altean who is trying to help. In trying to help, we unknowingly put you all in danger, and for that, I should be apologizing.” Allura then pulled up her skirt as she lowered herself to her knees, better to speak with Atorm on his level, “I am not a priestess or a goddess. I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea, a planet from long ago, very far from here. These are some of Voltron’s Paladins, and they come from Earth, another world across the universe.” She smiled at the king, “Although we come from very... _ very  _ different traditions and cultures, we wish to live and work together as friends and allies.”

“But…” Atorm said, “What about the giant Lion Guardian we saw in the sky? Is he not here to punish us?”

“No,” Allura assured, “That’s Voltron, that’s  _ us.  _ We’re here to protect you, and we do not want you to be afraid. Voltron is meant to protect every innocent being in the universe.”

“So…” the king said thoughtfully, “You are telling me that this Voltron...is our Lion Goddess, here to protect us? And you are her Paladins? We’ve truly done nothing wrong?”

“You know what?” Allura decided, “Sure, it’s close enough. But yes, you have done nothing wrong. Voltron thanks you for your hospitality.”

“Then this is cause for celebration!” Atorm declared, earning a cheer from the Arusians. He rushed forward to hug Allura, who hesitated before hugging back, “This is how us Arusians show our joy, through embrace!”

The other Arusians took the cue from their king and began to hug onto the Paladins’ legs, even leaping up and using their tails to add force so they could hug them properly.

“Aww,” Lance cooed as he picked a couple up, “That’s so sweet!”

“I hope the rest of space is like this!” Hunk declared as he scooped up four Arusians, who laughed and hugged him.

“I don’t,” Keith grumbled, holding his arms awkwardly, “I’m not exactly a hugger. These guys are...cuddly.” 

It didn’t sound like a compliment, but the Arusians seemed to take it as such, because they giggled.

One even spoke, his voice a deep and gravelly baritone that seemed completely at odds with his little cute body; “Thank you!”

The horrified and confused look on Keith’s face was enough to send Lance and Hunk into laughing fits, and despite his anger, Keith couldn’t help but smile too.

* * *

The Green and Black Lions landed right by the fallen Galra ship. Pidge and Shiro used their jetpacks to hasten their pace as they lowered down into the wreck, looking around, listening to the creaks and groans of the ruined metal.

“Creepy,” Pidge mumbled as they navigated through the ship.

“Tell me about it,” Shiro agreed, “Look, there! That looks like it could be something.”

They landed on what used to be a floor, with a wrecked control board on it. The ship was so mangled and torn, it was impossible to tell where they were. However, based on the size of the control area, Shiro doubted they were in what used to be the bridge.

Pidge used his Paladin armor to scan and run diagnostics, scowling as he did.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need something Galra to even power this thing on,” Pidge complained, “Any idea where something like that could be?”

“Hmm…” Shiro looked down at his hand, willing it to light up. He laid it on the control board, which reacted immediately, flickering to life.

“Huh,” Pidge said, beginning his work, “That’ll work. Hmm, this stuff is pretty heavily encoded, I think the best thing to do is just download it, and I’ll decrypt it back at the castle.”

“Good plan,” Shiro said. Pidge turned his focus to the information and downloading it into his suit, so Shiro took some time to look around.

He remembered when he was a kid, when he would spend hours watching historical documentaries with his dad (Adam always made fun of him for that, as if he wasn’t addicted to the Discovery Channel himself). Two of their favourite shows had been  _ Mayday,  _ a show about plane crashes and how they happened; and  _ Shipwreck Secrets,  _ where a crew used every piece of technology available to them to learn more about the wrecks.

He remembered the jagged, rusted pieces of metal at the bottom of the ocean floor. The way things flatted and exploded as they crashed in simulations, how similar it had been to real life. Shiro wondered if Galra metal could ever rust. 

Just as Shiro was beginning to lose himself to his thoughts, he was jarred by a sudden  **BOOM** ! He glanced up to see something pierce through the atmosphere; a massive shape that looked almost like an escape pod.

“That can’t be good,” he said as he stepped back and began to pull his hand away. He didn’t get a centimetre off the control board before Pidge slammed his hand back down, not looking away from his screen.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said, his helmet shield reflecting the light, “I’m only about halfway downloading the data.”

“Pidge,” Shiro warned, “Something just entered the atmosphere.”

“So?”

“ _ So,  _ it’s big, it’s Galra, and it looks like it’s heading right towards us. We have to move,  _ now. _ ”

“We’re not moving!” Pidge insisted, his eyes trained on the information in front of him, “I’m not finished.”

Shiro grit his teeth and looked up, watching as the ship drew closer and closer. It was  _ massive,  _ and falling fast. Shiro steeled himself before taking his arm off and grabbing Pidge, “I’m sorry, but we have to go!”

“No!” Pidge cried, struggling against Shiro’s grip as he used his jetpack to hop onto the different levels out of the ship, “Let me go!”

Shiro ignored his teammate, now out of the ship. Pidge didn’t look happy, but he saw the incoming craft and used his jetpack to fly forward. The jetpacks were quick, but they were designed for low gravity so they were losing altitude fast, and they weren’t quick enough to get away from the blast. Their Lions weren’t far, and Shiro only hoped they would make it in time. 

But as he heard the craft crash not far behind them, Shiro pulled Pidge into him, hoping to use his body as a shield and take the brunt of the damage. 

It turned out the Lions had the same idea. 

Before the shockwave could hit them, the Lions leapt into action, shielding their Paladins with their massive forms. Shiro and Pidge tumbled clumsily to the ground, staring in awe as their Lions shifted from shielding them to open their mouths to them.

“That’s...crazy,” Pidge said, “They...they moved on their own.”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, shaking his head and picking himself and Pidge off the ground, “C’mon, we gotta move! Team! Are you there? Keith? Lance? Hunk?”

* * *

Lance grinned as he head-butted a ball before gently kicking it to one of the Arusians. It turned out that they had a game that was somewhat similar to soccer, and he was happy to play with them as the Arusians hung off Hunk and Keith’s arms on the sidelines.

“– _ eith? Lance? Hunk? _ ”

Lance paused when he heard his name being called. He’d heard Shiro talking – their helmets were automatically connected through the comms – and mostly tuned him out. However, his voice sounded frantic.

During his pause, the ball bonked off his head, causing some others to laugh, including his teammates.

“Guys!” Lance yelled, jogging over to them.

“What, are we not allowed to laugh at you now?” Keith asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, c’mon Lance, that was funny,” Hunk said.

“No! Well, it was hilarious but – Shiro!” Lance stopped in front of them, “Shiro, what’s going on?”

“ _ Did you not see the incoming craft?”  _ Shiro yelled back.

“We’ve uh, been busy,” Lance said as Hunk and Keith scrambled for their helmets, “What happened?”

“ _ It’s Galra! Whatever it is, I think we’ll need Voltron to fight it.” _

“Got it,” Keith said, “C’mon!”

The three Paladins ran to their Lions, catching the attention of Allura.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“Incoming Galra ship,” Keith told her, “Get everyone to shelter! We’re going to help Shiro and Pidge.”

“Right!” Allura called back as she began to herd the Arusians, “Good luck!”

“Thanks, Princess!” Lance and Hunk called back.

* * *

Shiro and Pidge watched in their Lions as the giant craft depressurized, slowly beginning to open. The door cranking open was loud, and when it hit the ground, it shook, revealing a robotic monster inside.

“That’s...terrifying,” Pidge said.

“I don’t know why…” Shiro said, feeling his heart suddenly hammer in his chest, “but it looks familiar.”

“Well that can’t be a good sign.”

“Woah!” Lance called as he and the others approached, “What the heck is that?”

“Nothing good,” Keith guessed.

“So what should we do?” Hunk asked nervously.

“We need to be able to fight this properly – we need to form Voltron!” Shiro declared.

The team cheered in response before merging together as Voltron. After a bright flash of light, the Lions came together and the team merged, all seeing through Voltron’s eyes as they touched back down.

As soon as they had, the robot ran forward, a ball of purple energy forming in its right hand. It threw the ball and Voltron dodged it as they threw a right hook, the Red Lion slamming into the socket. The blow rocked both combatants, shaking the ground beneath them.

While they had it caught, the Green Lion came in with an uppercut, hitting the robot square in the face. It stumbled back, now out of their grasp, and raised its right arm. 

Voltron lifted into the air, prepared to hit it from above, but a noise like a ball of lightning whizzing through the air hit their ears just before the energy hit them square in the back, knocking them off their rhythm and into the ground. 

Voltron quickly picked themselves back up, seeing the ball of energy coming at them. They dodged again, but the beast called it back, throwing again and they dodged, flying back clumsily.

“I thought Voltron was supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the universe!” Keith said through gritted teeth as they watched the ball barely miss them.

“It has been ten thousand years!” Hunk reminded them.

“And we’re not exactly experienced,” Pidge added.

“Look out!”

But they couldn’t move fast enough; too focused on the ball of energy to think about the beast it belonged to, it hit them  _ hard.  _ Voltron stumbled back, landing between two hills. They shook their head, noticing the castle in their vision. They glanced back and Lance gasped.

“The village! Guys, we have to be careful and protect them!”

“Right,” Shiro said, “We have to lead it away.”

“Incoming!” Keith warned as another blast came their way,

They were in the process of standing up, and they managed to block the orb, but it knocked them back.

“Jets!” Shiro yelled as they fell back, their shadow falling over the village. But Hunk and Lance were already on it, Voltron’s jets on its back and legs activating as they hovered away from the village, a mere hundred feet above it.

“We have to get this fight away from the village,  _ now _ ,” Shiro said. 

* * *

Down below, Allura was with the rest of the Arusians in an underground cave. Atorm had said that it was the most secure position in the village, and it helped them weather many storms. Of course, they had never weathered Voltron before.

The earth around them shook as the two robots fought above them, and Allura found herself cradling a handful of Arusians and comforting them. 

She desperately wanted to get them all to the safety of the castle, but she was still wearing her blouse and skirt, so she had no way to call Coran. Besides that, she didn’t want to risk getting in the way of Voltron and their fight.

The ground shook around them again and a couple of Arusians screamed. 

Allura did her best to calm them down, but in all honesty, she herself was terrified. She had seen Voltron fight before, and it truly was a sight to behold. But she had watched from a safe distance, usually in the castle.

Now, she was in a cave with gods battling above her, and she only prayed that the Paladins managed to stay away from the village.

* * *

Voltron was able to lead the beast away from the village to the other side of the plain, effectively distancing themselves from Allura and the Arusians.

“Okay so it’s away from the village,” Pidge said, “Now what do we do?”

“I’m gonna power-kick the orb thing!” Lance declared.

“No!” Keith yelled, “Last time we did that, we fell!”

“Stop living in the past!” Lance shouted back. 

“Worth a shot,” Shiro said as the orb was thrown at them again. Voltron rose up and began to come down in a power-kick, Lance grinning as the orb got closer and closer…

...And he realized that the angle was  _ just  _ off.

“Oh no.”

The Blue Lion just barely missed the orb as it sailed right past them, hitting Voltron square in the face and knocking them on their back.

“What did I JUST SAY?!” Keith yelled.

“Now’s not the time,” Lance grumbled.

“NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME!”

“It’s coming again!” Shiro warned as they stood, “Pidge, lasers!”

“On it!” Pidge replied, hitting a button on their screen. But, he hit the wrong one, summoning the shield instead, “Ah! No, no, wait –”

But they couldn’t wait, because the orb slammed into the shield, but the monster came in at the opposite side, body-slamming them and jostling Keith roughly in Red.

“PIDGE!” He yelled.

“Sorry!”

“How do we fight this thing?!” Hunk cried, “Every time we focus on the orb, we get sucker-punched by the robot. But we focus on the robot, we get blind-sided by the orb!”

“So what should we do?” Lance asked.

“And why the hell does it feel so familiar?” Keith growled.

“Orb!” Hunk warned just as it slammed into their shields.

And then...something happened.

They weren’t sure what. All they knew was that the sunny plain before them flickered, as if switching to another scene. The robot was still in front of them, but for a split second, they were in a dark purple arena, cheers filling their ears.

The flickering stopped, settling on the dark arena. As the beast (now significantly less robotic) threw its orb again, they dodged, hiding behind a pillar in the arena, gasping as sweat poured down their necks and backs, bloodthirsty cheers making their heads ache.

The orb buzzed as it passed them by, that same lightning-ball-bomb as it whizzed through the air. As it did, there was a certain sense of dread and recognition that settled in their guts.

“I know that sound.”

This came from Shiro, just as they snapped back to reality.

“What?” Keith asked.

“I know it,” Shiro explained as they dodged it again, “From my time in the arena. That’s...that’s Myzax.”

“The undefeated gladiator you defeated?” Pidge asked.

“The  _ what _ ?!” Lance cried.

But then Myzax swung again and they dodged, the scene flickering between the Galra arena and Arusian plain as Shiro explained.

“The sound, it comes from when the orb returns to the base in his right arm. Every third time, the orb needs to be charged before it can be used again. That’s its weakest time,  _ that’s  _ when we need to strike.”

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Pidge asked.

“Defense. Pidge, keep those shields up.”

“Got it!”

“Get ready, he’s going to throw it! Brace for it!”

It hit the shield head-on and they stumbled, but held their ground.

“One more time,” Shiro warned, “Here it comes…”

Sure enough, it hit the shield, breaking it apart. 

“Now!” Shiro yelled, but they were already in motion. Voltron raised their arm and the Red Lion blasted Myzax with everything they had, knocking him down as the team cheered.

But as he stood, the scene changed again, solidifying into the Galra arena. Myzax stood and every Paladin felt their heart hammering in their chests.

“Ohhhh my god!” Hunk cried, “He’s still alive! What do we do?!”

They glanced down at their hand – a flesh hand, dirty and raw – holding a curved, black sword.

“Sword…” Shiro realized, “I-I had a sword.”

“Orb!” Hunk yelled again.

They braced for it and stumbled again, being forced back. 

“We can’t take another hit like that,” Pidge warned.

“We just gotta hold on for two more turns,” Lance said.

Keith was about to shoot back that it was two too many hits, but then he felt...disconnected.

They’d all gotten very used to the feeling of Voltron, of all of them slowly becoming one consciousness. They were still new, and not especially close, but walls came down, and they moved Voltron as if it was their own body.

But suddenly, Keith was severed from that. Voltron still felt like  _ his  _ body, but he suddenly didn’t have access to the others’ minds.

Instead, he saw Red’s cockpit, but it was as if it was in a dream. Everything was in shades of reds, the buttons and edges outlined and glowing. He felt a purring deep within his bones, and as he looked to his right, he saw a panel rise up, with two slots that looked like a plug.

“Hey guys,” he said as the purring stopped and he felt himself connected to Voltron again, “My Lion is telling me to do something with my bayard.”

“You’d better do it,” Shiro said through gritted teeth as they moved around the dark arena, “Before you lose the chance permanently.”

“He’s about to fire the third shot!” Lance warned.

Sure enough, it hit them, sending them flying back. They stumbled and fell, alarms blaring. Myzax ran towards them, about to pounce.

As he was, Keith rammed his bayard into the slot, and the arms of Voltron came together, drawing out a glowing light before thrusting it up and slashing as they ducked under Myzax, ending up behind the robot as it exploded.

In awe, the team looked down at the giant, wicked sword in their right hand.

“Woah!” Hunk and Lance cheered in unison.

“Since when do we have a  _ sword?! _ ” Pidge cried.

“Since now, I guess,” Shiro said with a chuckle as they turned back to look at Myzax, “Good job Keith.”

“Thanks, Shiro,” Keith said, then he grinned and reached forward to pet Red’s dashboard affectionately, “And thanks to you too, Red.”

* * *

Back at Zarkon’s headquarters, Haggar growled in dissatisfaction as she swiped through the illusion, causing it to disappear into mist. 

With a sigh, she appeared at Zarkon’s side.

“What news do you bring, Haggar?” He asked.

“Myzax has failed us,” she told him, “He was defeated by Voltron. However, there is some good to this situation – we know that this project  _ works,  _ and it can stand up against Voltron. Knowledge was gained from this test. We will build another and send it out immediately.”

“No,” Zarkon said firmly, “Sendak is alive on Arus, as well as Haxus. I have given them their mission.”

“Sir,” Haggar argued gently, “I don’t know if that is such a good idea. They are low on resources and up against Voltron.”

“Sendak will not fail me. He fights for the Galra – victory or death.”

* * *

Sendak scowled as he watched the remaining sentries pulled up the remainders of their supplies to their makeshift camp in the woods near the castle, on a cliff overlooking it.

“I don’t know how you plan to fix this situation,” Haxus said as he approached Sendak.

“Zarkon has given us a chance to prove our worth,” Sendak growled, “We shall rise from our ashes and rejoin his ranks.”

“And how do we plan on doing that with just us two, three doids, and five working sentries?”

“Voltron has one major weakness,” Sendak said as he smiled.

“It’s the universe’s greatest weapon. What could their weakness possibly be?”

“They care about the lives of others.”

* * *

Back in the castle, everyone was in the podbay as the freed Galra prisoners loaded onto a large pod. Coran had programmed it to send them to coordinates that the prisoners supplied him with, and they were all saying their goodbyes.

“We cannot thank you enough,” Tesen said with a bow, “Not only for saving our lives, but also in giving us  _ hope; _ something we have not had in a very long time. We never thought we might be able to see our families again, but you’ve given us that chance.”

“We’re happy to,” Shiro said with a smile, “Stay safe out there.”

Tesen smiled as he entered the pod, the doors closing behind them as the others waved at the freed aliens. The podbay door opened, and the pod shot out, quickly disappearing in the distance. 

Once they were gone, the doors shut again, and Shiro sighed.

“Welp, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m  _ exhausted. _ I think I’m gonna go lie down before dinner.”

“Coran and I are going to do some finishing touches on the castle, so we can leave soon,” Allura said, the three of them beginning to exit the bay. Shiro glanced back at his team, who hadn’t moved.

“What’re you guys gonna do?”

“I’ll just take a nap or something,” Lance said with a shrug.

“We’ll meet you guys at dinner,” Hunk promised.

“Okay,” Shiro said with a shrug as he exited the bay. The Paladins waited for a moment to make sure he was gone before speaking.

“So, did anyone else see the Galra arena when we were Voltron?” Lance asked.

“Oh my god!” Hunk cried, “I thought I was going crazy!”

“Yeah, what  _ was  _ that?” Pidge asked.

“I...I think that was Shiro,” Keith said.

“I hate to agree,” Lance said, “but...yeah. It was definitely an arena, and it  _ looked  _ Galra. I think we all experienced one of Shiro’s flashbacks.”

“But how is that possible?” Keith asked.

“Well, we are connected through Voltron,” Pidge offered, “Our minds and bodies are all connected, right? So since Shiro had an episode, we all shared that because we were sharing his mind.”

“It didn’t feel too great,” Hunk admitted, hugging himself a bit.

“It wasn’t as... _ intense  _ as I thought it would be,” Lance said.

“Probably because we’re all sharing a mental load,” Pidge explained, “We all experienced it, but it made it less intense because it was spread to all of us. Or, that’s what I’m guessing.”

“Regardless, it’s dangerous,” Keith declared, “We got lucky this time, because it was relevant, but we were basically  _ blind _ . If we hadn’t moved away from the village when we did, we could’ve destroyed it.”

“We wouldn’t have –” Lance began, but Keith interrupted him.

“Oh really? Because as far as we were concerned, we were in that damn arena! We were lucky we were fighting in an empty field, because if there had been anything near us, we wouldn’t have been able to see it. If we were any closer to the village, it’s likely we would’ve completely destroyed it, as well as killing Allura and all the Arusians.”

There was a beat of silence as Keith’s words sank in, before Hunk spoke.

“That’s...dark.”

“So...what?” Lance asked, “Should we talk to Shiro about this?”

“Should we?” Pidge asked, “It’s not like he can control the flashbacks.”

“Hey, it’s not his fault!” Keith snapped.

“Woah, buddy,” Hunk said calmly, “We know it’s not – we’re not saying it’s his fault,  _ at all. _ We’re just trying to figure out what to do. I think it’s only fair to let him know that we all saw what he was seeing.”

“No,” Keith said firmly, “Shiro will only feel guilty and get all anxious about it. Telling him is a bad idea.”

“So what should we do?” Lance asked.

“I dunno, guess we just try to push through it in the meantime. I don’t know, but I  _ do  _ know that we can’t tell him. Not yet.”

The other three glanced at each other before Lance sighed and shrugged.

“Alright cowboy, you know Shiro the best out of all of us, so we’ll follow your lead on this one.”

“Thanks. And stop calling me cowboy.”

Lance laughed, “I’ll stop calling you that when you drop the accent.”

“I don’t even have that much of an accent! And you don’t see me making fun of  _ your  _ accent!”

“Hey, I’m speaking Spanish – the translator is just doing its magic.”

“As fun as this is,” Hunk interrupted with a smile, “I’m gonna go get dinner ready.”

And just like that, they were kids again. Not Paladins in an intergalactic war – just kids goofing off with one another and asking what was for dinner and playing games. They could almost forget that they were in an ancient alien castle.

_ Almost. _

* * *

Pidge sat on the old bridge leading to the castle, the mice sitting in his lap. He watched the sun set over the Arusian village in the distance, petting the mice absently.

“Hey, mind if I join you?”

Pidge looked up to see Shiro approaching and he smiled.

“Yeah, sure.”

He sat down beside Pidge, both of their legs dangling over the edge, into the valley far, far down below.

It was quiet for a moment, before Pidge spoke softly.

“Why would you hurt my brother? I thought you guys were friends.”

“We were friends,” Shiro replied, “Best friends. I did it to save him.”

Pidge frowned up at Shiro, “I...don’t understand?”

“When we were fighting Myzax,” Shiro began, looking out to the sunset, “It started to come back to me, and I remembered what happened.”

Pidge shifted uncomfortably, because he  _ knew  _ what Shiro was talking about, but didn’t say anything.

“Like Tesen said,” Shiro continued, “Matt and I were selected for the ring, and Matt was supposed to go first. He was freaking out – which is perfectly understandable, we all were. But he was spiralling, talking about how he might never get to see you or his dad or his mom ever again. I tried to snap him out of it, but it just wasn’t working, and I realized that everyone else was in the same position.”

Shiro sighed, “One thing I’ve learned in life is that you’re useless when you’re panicking. I quickly learned to clamp down on the panic when I was just a Garrison pilot, and I think it’s part of what made me such a good leader. Anyways, I figured that I was the only one who mentally stood a chance, and I thought I could give Matt a chance to at least be with his dad. So, I pretended to fly into a rage, yelling for blood. I actually grabbed the sword from the sentry droid and attacked Matt with it. Nothing life-threatening, I just slashed his leg up. I tackled him, told him to stay safe and find his dad. Then I was dragged off him and tossed into the arena. I figured that if the Galra had a gladiator ring, they’d love it if I Hulked out, and I was right. I don’t think I ever found out what happened to Matt, but at least I gave him a chance.”

Once Shiro had finished, Pidge felt his eyes welling up with tears. He reached forward and hugged Shiro tightly, crying into him gently.

“I am  _ so  _ sorry!” He warbled, “You didn’t hurt Matt – well you did, but it was to save him. Thank you!”

“Of course,” Shiro said gently, hugging Pidge back, “You know, Matt and Sam would be really proud of you, Katie.”

Pidge froze, leaning back from Shiro and wiping his eyes, “H-how did you…?”

Shiro laughed, “C’mon, Katie, Adam and I were over for dinner all the time! You really think I wouldn’t recognize you?”

“I’m just surprised Keith hasn’t,” Pidge admitted with a small chuckle, “I thought he was gonna blow it when we got you out of that Garrison tent.”

“He’s probably noticed,” Shiro admitted, “and just hasn’t said anything.”

“Why not?”

Shiro shrugged, “It’s not our business which name you go by, though I will admit that I am curious. Do you prefer he/him now?”

“I...don’t know,” Pidge admitted, looking down at their legs swinging back and forth, “When you guys disappeared, I kept trying to hack into Garrison computers to get information. Iverson banned me from the property, so my mom and I changed my name and stuff so I could still go to the Garrison. Legally, I’m a boy named Pidge Gunderson, not a girl named Katie Holt. But...lately, I guess, I’ve really liked  _ Pidge  _ rather than  _ Katie,  _ but I don’t think I’m a boy, o-or a girl. I think I’m nonbinary but...I don’t know.”

“No worries,” Shiro said with a smile, “You take your time to figure it out, I know these things can be really confusing.”

Pidge grinned, “Thanks Shiro. Uh, in the meantime though, you can just call me Pidge and use male pronouns. I don’t want to tell the others until I know for sure.”

“Of course. Your secret is safe with me, Pidge.”


	7. Longing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man I really wish I had the skills and tools to make this a visual medium bc I just can't do the fight scenes justice. I went back and rewatched the Shiro vs Sendak fight scene and UGH the animation was so good. Voltron was flawed in many ways, but the animation team always did such a good job.
> 
> also! I am throwing in some Spanish terms (mostly just stuff used between family members like mijo) but I don't speak a lick of Spanish. I'm canadian, so the language we learn is French. Anyways, if I'm wrong or misuse a term or ANYTHING, please feel free to correct me. I promise I did some research, but theoretical and practical use are two very different things.
> 
> anyways, thanks again for the support, and happy reading :)

“And now we shall summon Voltron!”

The small crowd of the Arusian village and Team Voltron applauded as the performers danced around in a circle, breaking away to show an Arusian in elaborate robes and a lion headdress, yelling as she wielded a shield.

The Arusians had been incredibly grateful for Voltron, and even  _ more  _ thankful when Allura announced that she was throwing a party in honour of the Arusians, as well as a farewell ceremony. Turns out, the Arusians were  _ incredibly  _ artistic, to the point where things like music, dancing, and storytelling were considered sacred. And so to thank their Lion Goddess, a small group of Arusians had banded together to perform a short play on the landing on the stairs of the Great Hall, reliving the events of the battle from the week before. 

The play was surprisingly good. Simple, but the music and dancing were beautiful, and the Paladins’ cheers once they finished were genuine.

“Thank you so much for that wonderful performance,” Allura said with a smile. She wore a gorgeous pine-green dress that swept the floor, the attached cloak draping down from her shoulders. Her arms were bare though, revealing pink markings all over her chest and arms, similar to the ones on her cheeks. 

“I know we have not known each other for very long, but I am sad to take leave of you and your wonderful planet so soon,” she began, talking to the entire hall from her place on the landing, “But Voltron has been missing for ten thousand deca-phoebs, and our aid is long overdue. We must continue the fight against the Galra and spread peace throughout the universe once again. We thank you for hosting us, keeping watch over our castle for so long.” Allura smiled and produced a small, white hand-held device with the Voltron insignia on it, holding it out for King Atorm, “This is a communication device. If you are ever in danger, should you ever need us, Voltron will be there. Officially, Arus is the first planet to join the Voltron Coalition.”

Everyone clapped (well, the Paladins and Coran clapped; the Arusians slapped their tails against the ground in a similar manner) as King Atorm bowed to Allura.

“Thank you, Princess. We are honoured and proud to serve in the Coalition.” Then he turned to the crowd and raised his glass, “Hurrah!”

“Hurrah!” The Arusians cheered back, raising their glasses in response. Allura thanked Atorm before the two descended into the crowd, Coran (in a matching green Altean suit) helping Allura down the stairs. The two Alteans had a full wardrobe that had been miraculously preserved, but the Paladins weren’t nearly as lucky. Allura promised that the moment they had the opportunity, she was buying them all formal outfits. In the meantime though, their Paladin armor would have to do.

“You know,” Hunk said to Lance and Keith, gesturing with his glass, “I think we need something like that. Like a team cheer.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Keith admitted.

“Oh! Oh!” Lance said excitedly, “We could do a call-and-response thing, like uh… I say ‘Vol’, you say ‘tron’! Vol…” 

Lance gestured towards Keith, who looked thoroughly confused. He hesitated a moment before saying, “Uh...Voltron?”

Lance stared at him a second before collecting himself, “No, no-no-no. Keith, the cheer includes the instructions. I say ‘ _ vol’ _ and you say…?”

Keith glanced to Hunk for help, but he was too busy trying not to laugh.

“Um...Vol... _ tron _ ?”

“We’ll work on it,” Lance sighed as Hunk burst into laughter.

“I don’t get it!” Keith snapped, which only made Hunk laugh harder.

Deciding that he would need a drink if he was gonna be forced to socialize with Keith all night, Lance took a sip of the drink in his cup that Coran had supplied them all with.

The moment it touched his tongue, Lance gagged and his eyes began to water. He began to cough violently – though, to his credit, he managed to force the liquid down. He shivered as he did, pulling a puckered face as he stuck his tongue between his teeth.

“Woah Lance, you good?” Hunk asked.

Instead of answering him, Lance grabbed Coran, who happened to be walking by.

“Coran! What the heck is this stuff?! Nail polish remover?!”

“This is nunvill,” Coran explained cheerfully, “the nectar of the gods.”

“Well apparently the gods like hot dog water and feet mixed with tequila. A  _ lot  _ of tequila.”

“It is quite pungent,” Coran agreed, “Perfect for aged fish! Makes a great hair tonic too.”

To prove his point, Coran sprinkled some on his moustache, and it seemed to look a little fluffier.

Lance gagged again and placed his cup on a passing floating tray, turning back to his friends.

“Guys,” he mumbled, leaning against Hunk, “I think nunvill is poisonous to humans. I don’t feel too hot.”

“You had  _ one  _ sip,” Keith teased, “you really that much of a lightweight?”

Lance scowled in response, but Hunk frowned.

“I dunno man, Lance is looking kinda pale.”

Tentatively, Keith poked Lance’s chest, which sent him tumbling back. Hunk caught him.

“Okay so that’s not  _ great. _ ”

Meanwhile, Coran had walked over to Shiro, who stood at the grand entrance leading onto the bridge. There were a handful of Arusians mingling outside, as it was a nice night, and Shiro watched them carefully.

“Hello, Shiro,” Coran greeted, holding out a cup towards him, “Care for some nunvill?”

Shiro glanced back towards the three boys and smiled, “Um, I’m alright, thank you.”

“Suit yourself. Is something on your mind?”

Shiro chuckled lightly, “I have a  _ lot  _ on my mind – symptom of the trauma.”

“I see. But something seems to be bothering you in the present moment.”

Shiro nodded, looking back outside, “I just...I don’t know if it’s such a good idea to let everyone wander in and out of the castle like this. It’s dangerous.”

“Oh, pish posh,” Coran chuckled, “The most damage the Arusians could do is maybe break a glass or two. And besides, I think it’s only fair that they get to look inside the castle that’s been sitting on their planet for the past ten thousand deca-phoebs.”

Shiro hummed in response before standing up, “I’m going to do a perimeter check. Just to be safe.”

Coran sighed as he watched Shiro walk out onto the bridge, and the three boys noticed as well.

“He’s really tense,” Keith said, “it’s not like him.”

“Maybe we should just tell him,” Hunk said, Lance leaning on his shoulder.

“ _ No, _ ” Keith said firmly, “that’ll just make things worse.”

* * *

“Sendak, sir, the sentries are posted around the village, and it seems empty.”

Sendak grinned as he lowered the binoculars, turning to Haxus and handing him them.

“Good. Looks like fortune is smiling on us, Haxus – these trusting fools have left their front door wide open for us. With all of these life forms coming in and out, it will be easy to infiltrate the castle and take them down from the inside.”

“I may not have to. Look – the little green one has reprogrammed one of our drones. If I can get close enough to copy its signature code, I can send one of our own drones in as a bomb.”

Sendak’s grin only grew, his fangs glinting in the moonlight.

“Fortunate indeed.”

* * *

Allura watched from the balcony in the Great Hall, surveying the party with interest. Coran was mingling with the Arusians, who seemed to be having a blast, and Shiro had gone outside. She saw Pidge looking a tad uncomfortable, pushing his glasses up his nose and hefting a small bag, Rover following behind as loyally as ever. The three other Paladins spoke to each other, and Allura was unsurprised to see Lance and Keith bickering. 

“These new Paladins of Voltron are truly something else,” she told the mice, who had been hiding in her pockets all evening but had since come out to sit on the balcony railing, “Perhaps a bit strange, but I have faith in them. The fate of the universe rests on their shoulders now.”

As soon as she had finished speaking, she saw Keith take a large gulp of the nunvill, Lance and Hunk watching raptly. His eyes bulged out of his head before he spat the drink out all over poor Hunk. She leaned forward as he turned away, but he quickly turned back and – having grabbed two round treats from a passing tray – placed them over his eyes.

“Ah! My eyes! I can’t see!”

This earned a hearty laugh from the other two, which Hunk was quick to join in on before eating the treats.

“But…” she said with a sigh, “they are also idiots.” She turned to the mice with an apologetic smile, “Of course, I have faith in them. I just can’t let anyone know how nervous I am for them. Just our secret, yes?”

She was not the only one with a secret.

“Oh?” She smiled at the mice, “Do tell.”

The large yellow mouse mimed eating something; Hunk had tried to eat grass mixed with the urulems as a late night snack.

She laughed at that, “Oh, poor Hunk. I can’t imagine that tasted very good. What else?”

The smaller blue one flicked her ear; Lance had been practicing flirting with Allura in the mirror.

“Yes, that sounds like Lance,” she said with a sigh, “Anything else?”

The smallest of them, a little green one, batted his eyes at Allura; Pidge was a girl.

“Pidge is a  _ what _ ?!” ALlura cried, searching for Pidge in the crowd. She found them, watched as they dumped a tray full of snacks into their backpack.

Allura glanced back at the mice, “Are you sure?”

Positive.

“Hmm. I need to get to the end of this.”

Back amongst the crowd, Lance, Hunk, and Keith were talking.

“I guess we’re gonna have to get used to this alcoholic hot dog water,” Lance grumbled.

“I really don’t think I’ll be used to that,” Keith said as he wrinkled his nose.

“And I’m never trying it,” Hunk declared.

“I mean, we’re gonna have to though, right?” Lance said, “Who knows when we’ll be home and able to drink  _ real  _ booze again?”

“If we’ll ever be able to,” Keith responded casually.

Lance frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Zarkon has been ruling for ten thousand years,” Keith explained, “How long do you think it’ll take us to actually take him down?”

“If we even  _ live  _ that long,” Hunk added, then a food tray passed them by and he grinned, “Ooh! These marshmallow things are so good! I got the recipe from one of the Arusian chefs.”

“Woah woah woah!” Lance cried, “You can’t just blow over the whole ‘if we live that long’! You can’t just blow right past that!”

“Lance,” Keith said, his voice taking on a more serious tone, “you have to face the fact that what we’re doing is dangerous. We’re in the middle of an intergalactic war here. We might never make it back to Earth.”

“But we’ll probably check out a  _ ton  _ of alien planets,” Hunk added, trying to lighten the conversation, “Who knows what kind of unique foods we’ll find! And I mean, numerically speaking, one of them  _ has  _ to have pasta or sushi or pizza.”

“Only one planet I know with Pie Guys Pizza,” Lance said with a smile, “A vintage pizza shack right on Varadero Beach. Only Earth has those garlic knots – the ones Luis made, with the extra parmesan. It’s the only place in the universe with an old tree carved with all of our initials, and my niece and nephew, and my mom’s hugs…” Lance suddenly took a sharp breath as a wave of longing washed over him, his chin beginning to tremble and his eyes watering. He sniffed as he said, “Um, excuse me. I think the nunvill is hitting me.”

Without another word, Lance pushed past the crowd, heading up the stairs to the rest of the castle. He passed Coran, who noticed Lance rubbing his eyes furiously. After a moment or so, he followed.

“What the hell was that?” Keith asked.

Hunk sighed, adjusting his yellow headband anxiously, “Y’know, even when we were at the Garrison, Lance always got homesick easily. He was always really close with his family – they’re everything to him, man. It was really hard for him to be so far away from them, and that was when we were still back on Earth. I can’t imagine how he feels now that we’re, like, a bajillion miles away.”

“So...should we go after him?” Keith asked.

“No, I’ve learned it’s best to let him be. If he wants company, he’ll ask for it.”

“Fair enough. What about you? Are you homesick at all?”

Hunk shrugged, “Not really. Not yet. It doesn’t exactly feel  _ real,  _ y’know? I’m sure it’ll hit me soon enough, and it’ll hurt. We’ll all feel that eventually; we’ll all want to go home.”

“Not me,” Keith said with a frown, “I know our duties now, I’m not gonna abandon that.”

“I’m not saying we should!” Hunk said, holding his hands up in surrender, “We know what we’re in for. But...you really don’t miss home? At all?”

Keith shook his head, “Not much for me back on Earth.”

“It’s our home though. Do you really not care if we go home?”

“Earth is just a planet.”

Hunk shrugged, “Alright, fair enough, man.”

Allura brushed by Hunk as she zeroed in on Pidge, meeting them towards the centre of the room.

“Ah, hello, Pidge!” She said cheerfully.

Pidge stopped, glancing around them, as if Allura could be talking to another Pidge.

“Um...hey,” they finally said, “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know,” Allura said casually, gesturing her hand vaguely, “I feel like we haven’t  _ talked. _ I don’t know a thing about you! Why don’t you tell me about yourself? Have a little chat?”

“Well…” Pidge said, adjusting their glasses, “I like peanut butter, and I love peanut butter cookies, but I hate peanuts. They’re just so  _ dry.  _ Also, I feel like I sweat a lot. That’s unrelated to the peanuts though – I don’t have an allergy. I am allergic to grass though. It gives me rashes.”

Pidge suddenly clammed up, realizing that what they were saying was a little insane, especially considering they were saying it to a  _ princess. _ Honestly, Pidge had never been an especially social person, so they didn’t really know how to talk to people all that well, let alone ancient alien royalty.

“Hmm…” Allura said, pursing her lips, “I was thinking we talk about perhaps more  _ personal  _ stuff? We have a lot in common, y’know.” Allura smiled and winked at Pidge.

They frowned, “Um...we do?”

“Yes!”

“Like what?”

“Um…”  _ Well I can’t very well let Pidge know I know her secret,  _ “both of our fathers were taken by Zarkon.”

“Yeah,” Pidge replied, “But I’m gonna get mine back.”

The words hit Allura like a slap to the face, her expression becoming one of shock and hurt.

“Oh, oh god,” Pidge said, apparently realizing the words that had just come out of their mouth, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean – I wasn’t thinking, I’m –”

“It’s alright,” Allura assured with a smile, “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, and I do hope you have better luck with your father than I did. I guess...I just want you to know that you can confide in me, if you ever need. I’m here if you want to talk...about  _ anything _ .  _ At all. _ ”

Allura’s smile grew expectant, and Pidge had a feeling that she knew more than she was letting on.

“Okay,” Pidge admitted with a sigh, hefting their bag, “there is...something.”

“Oh, I had a feeling! What is it?”

“I’m leaving Voltron.”

Allura took a breath, but then she paused, her smile turning into a frown, “Wait. What?”

“I’ve managed to decrypt the information I got from the Galra ship,” Pidge explained, “I got a hit on Matt and Dad. It’s old, and not much, but it gives me a starting point and it’s a hell of a lot more than I had a year ago. I can see if I can retrace their steps, but the more time goes on, the harder it’ll be. So I need to leave. Tonight, actually.”

“You can’t  _ leave! _ ” Allura cried, catching the attention of a handful of nearby Arusians. She lowered her voice, stooping down a little to be closer to Pidge’s level, “Pidge, you are one of five people in the universe that can fly Voltron! You were  _ destined  _ to be here; you can’t just ignore your sacred responsibility.”

“I never chose this,” Pidge argued plainly, “And my first priority always has been and always will be my family. This is my first big break in finding them, and I don’t know when or  _ if  _ another opportunity could present itself. I have to take it.”

“But Pidge, the universe needs you, you’re a Paladin.”

“You can find another Paladin.”

“We really can’t! That’s not how any of this works.”

“Well, I’m sorry. Honestly, I thought you of all people would understand. If you had a chance to bring your family back, wouldn’t you?”

Allura frowned, “Pidge, that’s not fair.”

“Sorry,” Pidge mumbled, “but none of this is fair. That’s war, right? Anyways, I was hoping to just slip out and leave a little note, but since you know, I may as well actually say goodbye to everyone. Sorry, again.”

Then Pidge turned and made their way through the Hall. Allura sighed and looked at the mice in her pockets.

“Well, that did not go as planned.”

Pidge made their way to the bridge outside, where they had last seen Shiro. Sure enough, there he was, scanning the woods nearby, looking over to the Arusian village.

“Hey, Shiro?” Pidge called as they got close, Rover trailing behind as always.

“Oh, hey Pidge,” Shiro said with a smile, “Everything alright?”

“Um...actually? Can we talk for a second?”

Shiro frowned, “Of course. What’s up?”

Meanwhile, Haxus had snuck in, hiding amongst the rocks and rubble. He was about fifty metres away from the two Paladins and their drone, but he needed to get closer. He did manage to, sneaking from rock to rock. Once he was close enough, he managed to get a scan of the drone, copying its code. He could hear the two talking, but it wasn’t in any language he recognized. 

Once he got the information, he hid back down behind a boulder, sending the new code to one of their own drones. He quickly programmed it to find the crystal powering the ship, and once it did, it would detonate itself as a bomb.

The two Paladins finished their conversation and headed back inside, the tall one placing a hand on the smaller one’s shoulder. Their drone followed, and Haxus waited until they were inside before sending his copy in after them.

* * *

Lance wasn’t sure why exactly he was on the bridge – he did know that it was one of the furthest places from the party. He maybe should’ve gone to his room, but at least here, he could look out at the stars.

Still, he cried quietly, his shoulders shaking as he stared up at the void. He wanted to tell himself that one of those brilliant stars was  _ his  _ sun,  _ his  _ solar system. But he knew that wasn’t right. He could count every single star in the sky of Arus, and he wouldn’t be able to find Earth. They were too far away, on the other side of the universe as the Milky Way Galaxy. 

And Lance felt every inch of that impossible distance.  
Lance suddenly heard the doors to the bridge slide open and he took a deep breath, wiping his eyes. He wasn’t done crying, not by a long shot, but he’d rather continue in private.

“I was wondering where you wandered off to,” Coran said cheerfully, coming to stand beside Lance, “We should really return to the party. It is our duty, as the hosts.”

“I don’t really feel too good. I think I’ll just stay here.”

“Understandable. I shall keep you company.”

Lance sighed – it was clear that Coran wasn’t going to leave. After a moment of silence as Lance collected himself, he asked, “Coran...how far away from Earth are we? Do you know?”

“Well!” Coran said cheerfully, hopping down from the small ledge towards the command centre at the front, “Let’s check that!” He quickly pulled up the star map, turning the room blue. He centred on Arus and its solar system, “So we are here! And Earth…” He began to swipe through the map, the stars blurring together as he moved through them, “Is….all the way….over….right around….”

Lance’s expression and heart began to fall as Coran continued swiping past the endless stars and solar systems and galaxies, each swipe representing hundreds of thousands of lightyears, but it still took  _ so long. _

“Here!” Coran announced as he found the Milky Way, zooming into their solar system, “You said you were the third planet from your sun, correct? Well, there’s your Earth!”  
“You–” Lance sniffled, “You ever notice how far away the planets are?”

“Oh, my dear boy!” Coran said with a laugh, “Haven’t you been paying any attention?”

“I have!” Lance defended, “But...it’s just hard. I mean, we’re just  _ so far away.  _ I can’t see anything from Earth; the blue skies, the sunsets, the beaches and the forests and the mountains.” Lance took a moment to catch his breath before continuing, “I can’t see  _ any  _ of it.”

And that was it – any hope Lance had of holding back his tears to cry in private was lost. He began to cry again, holding his head in his hands. 

Coran sighed and turned off the star map, walking over to Lance. He sat down beside him and laid a gentle hand on his back.

“I know I’m a Paladin now,” Lance warbled, sniffling loudly as he talked through the tears, “It’s  _ awesome  _ that I’m in space on this crazy mission and I understand my responsibility as a Paladin and I don’t wanna give that up or turn that down or disappoint anyone but…” He sobbed, “I just wanna go  _ home _ . I miss  _ home. _ ”

“I understand,” Coran said gently, “I share the same sentiment about Altea. During my time with Alfor, we travelled across entire galaxies, and though neither of us were prone to homesickness, there were times when we longed for our home planet. But before, we could always go home. We don’t have that option now.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Lance sniffled, “About Altea. I can’t imagine what I would do if Earth was destroyed. I can’t imagine not being able to go home.”

“Neither can I, in all honesty,” Coran admitted with a sigh, “And you know, I think you might have liked Altea. It sounds a little similar to your Earth.”

“I hope we can show you Earth, then,” Lance offered, “Maybe you can make a new home there.”

“I think I should like that,” Coran said, “Tell me about your family – I know they’re important to you.”

Lance grinned and took a shaky breath, “Oh man, where do I begin? Uh, there are my grandparents - my Abuelo and Abuela, my mom’s parents. My dad’s parents died when I was a kid, so I never really knew them, but my grandparents live with us. Back home, we all lived in this house right on the beach – passed down through generations, so it’s  _ super  _ old, but it’s a good house. Then there were Mamì and Papì, my parents. I have three older siblings: there’s Luis, Marco, then Veronica. Luis is married to Lisa, and they’ve got two kids, Silvio and Nadia. Silvio’s five, Nadia’s three, and I am their  _ favourite  _ uncle. Luis and Lisa are both doctors, they met in the operating room.”

Lance took a breath, finding himself getting excited, “Then there’s Marco. He’s kind of a bachelor, but he works in Hollywood. He wants to be a director someday, but right now he’s just a camera-guy, but he’s been on the set of a bunch of big movies. My older sister is Veronica, she actually works at the Galaxy Garrison as a teacher, she helped me get in there. She’s an  _ awesome  _ pilot, but I think I’m better.” Lance laughed, “Lastly, I’ve got my twin sister, Rachel. She was born about an hour before me, and she holds that over my head like  _ nothing  _ else. She’s really big on marine biology, and she’s like, top of her class in school. We always said that she was the smart twin, but I’m the funny one. We’re both good-looking because we’re  _ basically  _ identical twins. I mean, obviously we’re  _ not really  _ identical, because she’s a girl and I’m a boy, but we look the exact same.”

Coran laughed, “Wow, you have quite a large family. Does everyone on Earth have a family that size?”

“ _ Pfft,  _ nah,” Lance said, “Hunk’s got his grandma, his parents, and two little siblings. Pidge has his parents and his brother, obviously, since he never stops talking about them. I know Shiro has a husband, and I think his parents died a few years ago. He doesn’t have any kids; the closest thing he’s got is Keith. He took him in when Keith was a kid and helped him out, which was pretty cool of him. As annoying as Keith is, I do feel bad for him – his mom disappeared when he was a baby, and his dad died when he was young.”

“You sure know a lot about your fellow Paladins,” Coran noted.

“Aw, not that much. We don’t talk too much about personal stuff, but when you’re Voltron…” Lance shrugged, “Your minds kinda just become one. You just...learn stuff without ever knowing you learned it.”

“It’s truly fascinating.”

“What about you?” Lance asked gently, “Did you have...I mean…?” Lance gestured vaguely, because it was really difficult to ask  _ did you have any family ten thousand years ago before your entire race and planet was destroyed? _

“I did,” Coran admitted with a heavy sigh, “I had a wife and son. Joelle and Rénaud. Joelle had hair like juniberries – though I suppose you might call it  _ pink. _ Her markings were the prettiest blue you’ve ever seen, and she had a laugh like the bells on Coronation Day.” Coran chuckled, “And Rénaud was near her spitting image, but he had my hair and nose. He was one of the sharpest people I ever knew, and he loved to joke around. He was like his mother that way; kind and funny and heartfelt. You remind me a bit of him, you know. I think it’s the eyes, how they always match your smile.”

Lance smiled at that, then he frowned, “So...why didn’t they come with you and Allura? If you don’t mind – if you do, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s alright,” Coran assured, “We didn’t have time to bring anyone with us – just Allura and I. Alfor didn’t think that all of Altea would be destroyed, none of us thought for even a second that Zarkon would be capable of that. All of the Alteans who were on-planet were sent down to the underground bunkers to wait out the attack and prepare escape pods if necessary. Alfor sent Allura and I to the furthest corners of the universe, as well as the Lions, in the hopes that Zarkon would never find them. We were burdened with the responsibility, but he knew we would survive.”

“That’s...did anyone escape?”

Coran sighed, “We hope so, but we’re not sure. There were certainly Alteans off-planet on diplomatic missions, living on different planets with their families, travelling. We’ve sent out some signals, but no one has replied yet. If there are any descendants of Altea out there, it’s doubtful they would even know who we are, or that they would know to respond.”

“I’m sorry. What about Joelle and Rénaud? Why didn’t they come with you?”

“They died a few deca-phoebs before the war started,” Coran explained, “Joelle fell ill and couldn’t get better. Rénaud worked in the labs on Daibazaal and died during an explosion. My heart shattered with both of them.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lance said, “I lost my Uncle Buck when I was younger. He was my mom’s brother, and we were really close – the jacket I have is actually his. He died in a car accident when I was twelve, and it hurt a lot. It still hurts. Not to compare to you though. You lost your whole planet and your family, I can’t imagine how that feels.”

Coran shrugged, “Grief is still grief, my boy, whether you lose one person or one million. Your heart still aches and breaks, and the pain still feels the same. Grief is universal, but so is happiness.”

“That’s...really deep.”

Coran chuckled, “Why thank you. So tell me about Earth – you seem to like the beach a lot.”

Lance grinned, “The beach is the best place in the world.”

* * *

Back at the party, Allura had gathered the other Paladins in a hallway off the Great Hall. The party continued, but they needed to have this conversation.

“So, I’m sorry,” Pidge finished, gripping the strap of their backpack as they nervously adjusted their glasses, “But I can’t give this up. I need to find my family.”

“You can’t leave!” Keith snapped, “If you leave, we can’t form Voltron, which means we can’t fight Zarkon! Have you forgotten that that’s the whole reason why we’re here?!”

“No, I haven’t!” Pidge snapped back, “But I am not giving up on my family!”

“You’re not the only one with a family!” Keith yelled, “Literally everyone else in the universe has a family!”

“...Is that an option?” Hunk asked nervously, “To see our families? Because I have a family back on Earth, and I would like to go see them. If that’s, y’know, a  _ thing. _ ”

“What?!” Keith yelled.

“Hunk, now you?” Allura cried.

Hunk shrank in on himself a bit, turtling in his armor, “Well, I miss them. Remember Keith, how I said it would all hit us differently, the moment we realized it was real and we all missed our lives back home? Yeah that’s hitting me  _ right now.  _ I would kind of like to go home.”

“You seriously want to leave?!” Allura demanded.

“Um, yes!” Hunk said, looking around before continuing nervously, “Look guys, Voltron is super cool – and I mean it’s  _ awesome,  _ don’t get me wrong. But I never signed up to fight in an intergalactic war! One moment, Lance and I are sneaking out to get McDonalds, and the next, I’m breaking into a government crash site, rescuing a legend, and then finding myself flying through a magic wormhole in a giant alien lion ship! I had no idea what this was going to lead to, and I didn’t even want to go get  _ McDonalds _ ! Now I’m on the other side of the universe!”

“None of us knew what we were getting into!” Keith yelled, officially losing his temper, “None of us had any idea that this would lead us to becoming soldiers on the front line of an ancient alien war! But we’re here now, so we have to just deal with it like adults! You can’t put the lives of two people over the rest of the universe!”

“I’m  _ fifteen _ !” Pidge cried, tears falling freely now as they yelled, “We’re all kids! Out of the five of us, Shiro is the only one to graduate highschool! I didn’t sign up to be a fucking child soldier.”

“ _ Okay, _ ” Shiro said firmly, deciding everyone needed to calm down, “Look, we are all in pretty far over our heads and you’re right – none of us knew what we were getting into. And Keith is also correct because we have been given a responsibility. But we can’t force you to be a part of this team, Pidge, that’s not how this works. If you want to leave to go look for your family, that’s fine, we won’t stop you. But I do ask you to  _ think  _ about what you’re doing, and how it impacts others. That’s all I ask.”

Pidge sniffled, wiped their eyes, and pursed their lips before hefting their bag, “I’m sorry. I won’t leave my family. You need to find another Green Paladin.”

Then they turned and walked away,

Keith rounded on Shiro, scowling, “You seriously just gonna let him walk away like that?”

“H-he can’t,” Allura said, her hands starting to pick at themselves, “He can’t just  _ leave.  _ He’s destined to be the Green Paladin! You can’t form Voltron without him, the team is falling apart!”

“So how are we supposed to fight things now?” Hunk asked nervously, “I mean, we can fight stuff in our Lions, but it’s not  _ Voltron.  _ What if another one of those giant robo-beasts attack us again?!”

“Everyone, calm down,” Shiro said, “We can’t lose our heads. I don’t like this any better than you guys –”

“So why didn’t you  _ stop  _ him?!” Keith snarled, his overly-sharp canines making an appearance, “Now we’re down a Paladin and a Lion.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“How?” Allura asked.

“I...I don’t know.”

“Whatever,” Keith growled, turning around, “I’m going after Pidge.”

“I should probably make sure they don’t fight,” Hunk said, going after Keith.

Shiro sighed and Allura turned to him with a frown.

“How can you not know?” She asked gently, “You’re supposed to be the leader.”

“People don’t always have the answers, Princess,” he admitted, “you should know that.”

“But...you’re…”

“An adult? A legend? Experienced?” Shiro laughed bitterly, “I’m twenty-six, Princess. I have no idea what I’m doing; I just pretend like I do.”

* * *

“–and water falls from the sky, but the best part is the thunder and lightning. You guys have that?”

“Something similar,” Coran admitted to Lance, “Except instead of rain, we have flaming diamonds. Though, we do have rain! But it comes in massive floods during certain times of the year.” Then he sighed and stood up, “I think we should head back to the party, before they notice we’ve been gone for too long.”

“Sounds good,” Lance said with a smile as Coran helped him up, “Thanks. I uh, I really appreciated this talk.”

“Me too. And if you ever need a talk like this again, I’ll be here.”

“Thanks, you too.”

The two of them headed to the doors, about halfway across the room, when they opened to allow Rover in.

“Oh, hey Rover,” Lance said casually as it passed them by. But then he stopped and frowned, looking back at it, “But where’s Pidge?”

Lance narrowed his eyes as not-Rover approached the crystal in the centre of the room, then began to beep rapidly. 

Now, Lance did not pretend to know very much about space or science, or too much of anything, really. But, he  _ did  _ know movies, and he knew that when something began to beep rapidly in a high pitch, it usually meant a bomb.

Deciding not to test this theory, Lance dove forward, yelling, “Coran, look out!” He shoved Coran forward and out the open door just as the blast went off. Lance, having stood behind Coran as a brace, took the brunt of the damage as the crystal exploded, fire lacing throughout the room and shaking the entire castle. Immediately, all lights went out and the castle was dead.

* * *

“Pidge, you get back here!” Keith yelled, “We’re not done!”

“Oh yes we are!” Pidge yelled back.

Just then, the building shook and the lights flickered before going out, and somewhere in the distance, there was the sound of an explosion.

There was some screaming coming from the Great Hall, and the three Paladins raced back, deciding to put their bullshit on hold.

“What happened?” Keith demanded as they raced back in, Shiro and Allura calming down the Arusians.

“It sounds like there was an explosion,” Allura said. She waved her hand and a weak hologram flickered to life, “It’s the crystal! We have to get to the bridge.”

“King Atorm,” Shiro said, “you need to get your people back to the village, the shuttlepods are still ready for you.”

“Right!” Atorm responded.

“Good, let’s go,” Shiro said, leading the Paladins as they rushed up to the bridge. The castle was dark, but their armor had flashlights. Hunk was holding onto Allura’s hand and guiding her, as she was still wearing her ballgown.

As they rounded the corner, Allura screamed when she saw a body lying by the door.

“Coran!”

She pushed forward and fell to her knees beside him, gently shaking him.

“Coran! Coran, wake up!”

Coran groaned as he opened his eyes and the others stood by him as Allura helped him sit up, “P-princess? Paladins? Wha–?”

“It seems like there was an explosion,” Shiro explained, “What happened?”

“An explosion,” Coran said, holding his head as he slowly came to, coughing slightly, “Lance and I were talking when – LANCE!” Coran stood up, still coughing a bit, “Where’s Lance?!”

“Was he on the bridge with you?” Hunk asked.

“Yes! He might still be in there!”

The doors weren’t opening automatically, nor when Coran and Pidge tried to activate the hand pad. 

“The power’s down,” Pidge said, “It won’t open.”

“Let me!” Allura shoved past them and put her hands in the gap between the doors.

“Princess, I appreciate the effort, but you can’t pry open a steel door!” Shiro said, “We just have to – oh shit.”

The  _ oh shit  _ was because Allura actually  _ did  _ begin to pry the door open. They watched in awe as her muscles flexed, the doors obeying her will.

Once they reached about halfway, she was able to push them the rest of the way open fairly easily. It revealed crystal shards all around the room, as well as burn marks all over. In front of the doors was Lance, his armor burned and damaged, small bits of crystal embedded in it. 

“Lance!” Hunk cried as he rushed forward, gently turning Lance over. He groaned lightly, and Hunk sighed in relief, “Oh thank god, he’s alive.”

“Here, let me look at him,” Shiro said gently, kneeling down. He looked Lance over and saw he was bleeding from several small cuts on his head, “It looks like he was hit by some of the shrapnel, and there might be some embedded in his skin. The back of his neck is a little burnt, but it looked like his suit took the brunt of the damage. He might have a concussion though, and some minor wounds.”

“What happened here?” Allura asked.

“Lance and I were talking,” Coran explained, “We were on our way back to the party, when Rover came in. It detonated itself as a bomb, and Lance pushed me out of the room. H-how is his breathing?”

“Weak, but steady,” Shiro said, hefting Lance up in a fireman’s carry, “We need to get these crystal shards out of him and get him in a pod, stat. I don’t like that his breathing is this weak.”

“It’s the fire suppression system,” Allura realized, “It lowers the oxygen in the room, not enough to kill anyone though.”

“But with Lance’s condition,” Keith said, “he’d need more oxygen, and he’s already pretty badly hurt. We need to bring him to the medbay!”

“That’s not going to work,” Coran said, “The crystal’s destroyed, so there’s nothing but emergency power in the castle. I can get the debris out of him, but we need another crystal.”

“Princess! Paladins! Lion Goddess!”

“King Atorm!” Allura realized, standing and rushing out of the room, “Keith, come here! I need a light!”

“Right!” Keith caught up to her and grabbed her hand, using his other to light the way. They made their way back to the hall, where all of the Arusians were still gathered.

“Why are you still here?” Allura asked, “It’s not safe.”

“Our village is under attack!” King Atorm cried, “We need Voltron!”

“Our Lions are sealed in their hangars,” Keith groaned, “We can’t get them out.” Keith summoned his helmet (which also stored in his armor the same as their bayards) and put it on, “Shiro, can you hear me?”

* * *

Shiro, who had put his helmet on as he and the others brought Lance to the medbay, spoke back.

“Yeah Keith, I’m here. What’s the problem?”

“ _ The Arusian village is under attack – but we won’t be able to get there in the Lions because they’re sealed in the hangars.” _

“We need to figure out what’s happening,” Shiro said, “and we need another crystal. Coran! Where can we find another crystal?”

“We need to find a nearby Balmera,” Coran said, “The castle has the protocol to scan for one, as do the pods. We can get a crystal from there, but it won’t be quick.”

“Great,” Shiro grumbled, “It seems like we can’t do anything without a crystal.”

“Wait,” Pidge realized, “I had a pod ready to go – the podbay door opens manually in case of ejection.”

“ _ I’ll take a pod to the village and see what’s going on, make sure there’s no one left behind.” _

Through Keith’s helmet, they heard a voice, then Keith spoke again, “ _ Allura’s gonna change and come with me.” _

“I’ll take a pod to a Balmera – but here, lay Lance down here on this table. There we go. I’ll take a pod with Hunk, I need someone to help me lift the crystal.”

“But…Lance…” Hunk said, looking down at his unconscious friend on the table Coran had manually summoned from the floor, as well as a small storage unit. He was grabbing supplies and placing them on the table beside Lance.

“I’ll stay here,” Shiro said, “Keith and Allura will take the Arusians to their bunkers where it’s safe. I’ll stay with Lance in the medbay and keep an eye on him.”

Hunk nodded, watching nervously as Coran snapped on some gloves and grabbed some tweezers.

“I need to tend to Lance first,” Coran said, “All three of you get your flashlights on and point them where I tell you – I need to see the crystals. If I leave them in when he goes into the pod, they’ll heal over and get badly infected.”

“Yes, sir.”

Soon, Coran had finished with Lance, so he, Hunk, and Pidge went to the pod bay as Pidge showed them the pod they had picked out.

“Well, it looks like we’re lucky,” Coran said, “there’s a Balmera nearby, so we don’t need to wormhole.”

“Oh by the way,” Pidge said, pointing at the dashboard inside of the pod, “I made some modifications. This one is a cloaking device I did by reverse-engineering the training maze. And this one is a booster rocket, it’s basically just a second tank of fuel that you can expel for a burst of speed that’ll last a few minutes.”

“Are you  _ insane _ ?!” Coran cried, “That’ll turn the whole pod into a bomb!”

“Oh.” Pidge smiled nervously and adjusted their glasses, “Okay. So maybe  _ don’t  _ use that one.”

“We won’t,” Coran said before getting in. 

Hunk hugged Pidge tightly before letting go, “We’ll be back soon, okay man?”

Pidge nodded, “Yeah, sure. Just...be careful.”

“I only hope we can be.”

Pidge waved them off and opened the podbay door for them, and the two blasted out, disappearing into the sky. Pidge closed the door then began to head back to the medbay, Rover following behind them.

* * *

Allura quickly changed into her space armor and tied her hair up. It took Keith and Allura several trips to bring all of the Arusians to their bunkers near the village. It was even slower than they would have liked because they had to fly low and quiet in order to avoid detection. 

Allura guided the Arusians to the bunker and stayed behind to keep guard while Keith decided to check out the village, looking for stragglers. He crept around in the shrubbery and rock formations, staying out of sight of the sentries posted around the village. The fires were beginning to burn themselves out, and it looked like there hadn’t been any stragglers. 

However, the more Keith looked, the more he noticed how little the sentries were moving. They were just...shadows among the fire. As he was watching one, his foot hit something and he looked down. It had  _ felt  _ like a rock, but sounded metallic. He bent down to pick it up and he realized that it was a small bomb. 

He yelped quietly and tossed it, causing an explosion where it landed. He expected the sentries to rush towards it, but they still didn’t move. They were frozen.

Carefully, Keith walked forward, his suit protecting him from the heat. He began to sneak up on one sentry, hoping to take it down…

But it wasn’t functional. It was propped up on a stick, its head hanging.

Keith frowned and poked it, “Why the hell would they put up scarecrows? Oh my god!”

Keith rushed back to the Arusian bunker, calling into his helmet.

“Shiro! Shiro, it was a trap!”

“ _ What?” _

“The sentries were fake!” Keith explained, “Timed bombs too. It was a diversion to get us away from the castle.”

“ _ Shit. You and Allura get back here now!” _

“I’m grabbing her now.”

By then, Keith reached the cave where Allura was.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“We have to go back,” Keith said, “It was a diversion!”

“What about the Arusians?”

“They’ll be fine – the fires were timed, they drew us here to thin the castle defenses. We have to get back and help Shiro.”

Allura nodded and the two of them raced to their pod, wasting no time in going back to the castle.

* * *

Lance was still laying on the table in the medbay when Shiro finished talking to Keith. Shiro  _ needed  _ to remain by Lance in case something happened and he needed to treat him, but according to Keith, an attack on the castle was imminent. 

The medbay was too close to other targets such as the bridge and entrance hall. They’d come looking for them for sure, kick them when they’re down. However, if Shiro went down to their dorms, he could lock Lance in his room, fend off the invasion from there.

Deciding it was likely his best course of action, he picked Lance up again and spoke into his helmet.

“Pidge,” he said, “come in.”

“ _ I’m here. _ ”

“Make your way down to the dorms. We can protect Lance from there, as they won’t be likely to attack there, not for a while.”

_ “But what about the bridge? Or the engines?” _

“The crystal is already destroyed, so there’s not much we can do. Our top priority is protecting Lance until Hunk and Coran get back.”

“ _ Okay. I’m on the other side of the castle, so I’ll be a minute.” _

“Copy.”

Shiro was about halfway to their rooms when he heard a deep chuckle behind him. 

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Champion.”

Shiro felt his blood run cold at the familiar voice. He turned around to see Sendak standing with Haxus and six sentries. Shiro briefly mapped out the quickest way from the entry hall to the bridge in his mind and realized that he had accidentally crossed paths with it.

_ Stupid fucking castle with a ton of hallways. _

He sighed as he gently set Lance down on one of the ledges along the wall (Coran once told him they held decorations that had since been tucked away for space travel). He turned around to face Sendak, his arm lighting up.

“I did my research after tasting defeat by your hand,” Sendak said with a snarl as he marched forward, his massive arm humming with power, “I know who you are,  _ Champion. _ ”

“Well then,” Shiro said, “you know a hell of a lot more than me. But I do know that you’re not gonna surrender, even if I ask nicely.”

“And I know that you are a fighter.” Sendak grinned a smile that sent shivers down Shiro’s spine.

Instead of answering him, Shiro rushed forward, going to swipe at his head. Sendak dodged, grabbing Shiro with his massive arm and throwing him against the wall. As his grip loosened a bit, Shiro dropped, swiping up, only for Sendak to step back.

The hallway was wide, as it was a major one, which gave Sendak enough room to move. Shiro was nimble and able to dodge – something he’d used to his advantage compared to the beastly foes in the arena. Sendak was much like them, but even more dangerous. He wasn’t a man fighting for entertainment or glory – he was fighting for his emperor.

As Shiro punched forward, his fist was caught by Sendak’s arm and he grinned.

“I see you’ve spent time with the Druids,” he said, “They did adore you. However, I adore them, and so I have the latest model. Observe.” Then a beam of energy pulsed through his arm, shocking Shiro. He yelled in pain and Sendak threw him backwards, hard enough for him to bounce off the floor. Shiro stood as he tried to catch his breath, only to see Sendak leap towards him.

But he saw his chance, so Shiro planted his feet, grabbed Sendak’s flesh arm as he was about to land, and used the momentum to flip Sendak. He didn’t bounce, but Shiro didn’t exactly have superhuman strength. 

Sendak was quick to get to his feet though, and the two lunged for each other’s throats. They froze, each of their robotic arms centimetres from their necks.

“Stand down,” Haxus said, knocking Lance’s unconscious body to the ground, earning a small groan, “Or this one dies.”

Shiro glanced at Lance and then at Sendak before scowling and slowly lowering his arm, the light turning off. As soon as it had, Sendak grabbed Shiro and threw him to the floor, knocking him out next to Lance.

Pidge ducked back down the hallway and quietly ran deep into the castle, taking random turns until they were in the middle of nowhere. 

They’d heard the fight over their headsets, and they’d sent Rover to check it out, just in time to watch Shiro get knocked out.

_ Run, run, I don’t know where, but I have to go. _

* * *

When Lance opened his eyes, he was back home.

He was in his bed, the sound of the ocean drifting through his open window. He sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes as he woke up.

There came a knock at his door before Rachel poked her head in, “Oh, hey Lance, good to see you’re up. Breakfast in fifteen.”

“W-what day is it?” Lance asked.

“Uh, Wednesday.”

“Yeah but like...the date. What’s the date?”

“Oh, it’s August sixth.”

Lance frowned, “Really? Wow, for some reason…. Man, I thought it was October.”

“What? You had a dream you were at the Garrison or something?” Rachel teased, leaning against the doorframe, “Nerd.”

“Um, excuse you, I am no nerd. And it wasn’t about the Garrison – it was a weird dream. I was in space and flying these giant spaceships and talking to aliens.”

Rachel snorted, “Yeah, super weird dream. You  _ barely  _ made it to Fighter Pilot, you’re not flying any giant spaceships anytime soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Anyways, hurry up – Mamì made waffles.”

“Oh,  _ bet _ .”

Rachel laughed before leaving and closing his door. He could hear her go downstairs, the noise of the house coming to life. 

Lance got out of bed and stretched with a loud groan, his knees and neck popping as he did. He looked out his window towards the beach, watching the gentle waves crest on the sand. He grinned, feeling a sense of peace wash over him as he heard his niece and nephew playing downstairs while Lisa snapped at them.

He was home.

* * *

Sendak made it to the bridge and grinned at the damage, dumping Lance and Shiro unceremoniously onto the floor. Shiro was drifting in and out of consciousness so Sendak had handcuffed him, but Lance was injured and out cold, so Sendak had let him be. 

Haxus and the sentries were quick to plug in their own crystal, pre-programmed by the Galra. Once they had, power came back to the castle, lighting up a light purple instead of its usual blue.

“Raise the particle barrier,” Sendak commanded, “No one gets in or out.”

“Yes, sir.”

Haxus did as commanded, the particle barrier coming to life around the castle. Sendak meanwhile pulled up footage of the Lions in their bays and grinned.

“Good, the Lions are all accounted for. Begin launch sequence.”

“Yes sir, but it will take time,” Haxus warned, “This system is ancient, as is the castle. It can run automatically, but it will not be quick.”

“That is fine – we have all the time we need. Two of the Paladins are out of commission, the Princess and one of the others are at the village, and three others are nowhere to be found. Vrepit Sa.”

“Vrepit Sa!”

* * *

“No, no no no!” Allura cried as the particle barrier went up. They landed on the bridge outside the main door and Allura leapt out, running forward to bang on the barrier, “No!” 

“Allura, stop,” Keith said as he got out to join her, “Us pounding on it isn’t gonna take it down.”

“I know!” That didn’t stop her though.

Keith sighed. He knew the beginning of a spiral when he saw one, and he  _ so  _ wasn’t the right person to deal with this.

“Look, they can’t control the castle,” Keith said, “And Shiro and Pidge are inside.”

“Yes, they  _ can  _ control it!” Allura snapped, “Why do you think the particle barrier is up and it’s  _ purple?!” _

“Okay, so maybe they  _ can  _ control it. But they’re not shooting at us, so maybe they don’t have total control.”

Just then, a beam of light shot out the tip of the castle. It was bright, but brief.

“Um...what was that?” Keith asked.

“The energy expulsion,” Allura said, turning to Keith with a scowl, “The first step in the launch process.”

“Oh. Wait, they’re trying to take off?”

“All of the Lions are inside,” Allura said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she began to pace, “It’s likely that Sendak is planning to launch and take the castle and everything in it to Zarkon’s base.”

“Okay, well, let’s say they do,” Keith said,  _ desperately  _ trying to be optimistic, which was hard for him, “But they can’t wormhole, so we can catch them in space.”

“ _ How,  _ Keith?” Allura demanded.

“The pods are suited for deep-space!” Keith snapped back, losing his patience extremely quickly, “We can take this one and catch up, sneak inside the castle and gain control from there. Only you can wormhole.”

“No,” she said, sounding rather exasperated, “The castle stores my energy in case of an emergency. By my estimates, they can make a wormhole to cover about a third of the distance. We’d never catch up.”

“Well fine!” Keith threw up his hands in frustration, “I am out of optimism!”

“ _ Keith? Are you there?” _

Keith froze, “Yeah. Pidge? What’s going on? I thought I heard a fight.”

“ _ You-you did. Shiro fought Sendak and his right-hand man, Haxus. He lost. T-they took them to the bridge and the power is back on. Where are you guys?” _

“We’re stuck outside,” Keith said with a frustrated sigh, “They’ve activated the particle barrier.”

“Wait! I have an idea!” Allura suddenly said, gesturing at Keith, “Give me your helmet, I need to talk to Pidge.”

“Uh yeah, sure.” Keith handed Allura his helmet and she pushed it on, speaking to Pidge.

“Pidge, this is Allura. Are you there?”

“ _ Yeah, I’m here. But Lance and Shiro are out. I’m the only one in here that’s not Galra.” _

“That’s okay, you might be exactly what we need. If you can make your way down to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the central energy chamber, that will reset the entire system, which will let us into the castle and buy us some time. Do you think you can do that?”

“ _ I – yeah. Yeah, I can do that. I have the plans for the castle, and it looks like I can get there through the vents.” _

“Perfect. If you need any help, I’ll guide you.”

* * *

“We’re almost there,” Coran said as he checked their status, “That planet up there is the Balmera.”

“Right, right, right,” Hunk said nervously, running his hands along his thighs, despite the fact that he was wearing gloves that absorbed the moisture, “So...why this planet?”

“Well, technically, it’s not a planet,” Coran corrected cheerfully, “They’re ancient, sleeping beasts.”

“So it’s a living planet.”

“I suppose so, yes. Anyhow, Balmeras create the crystals naturally, which are used in all sorts of inventions as incredible power sources. We’re looking for a battleship class crystal, which shouldn’t be an issue. You know, I used to visit Balmeras all the time with my grandmother when she was building the Castle of Lion; she taught me how to get the crystals. Ah, I will never forget the first time I saw the glittering surface of the Balmera. It truly is a sight to see.”

“Right, I’m sure it is.”

Just then, they descended beneath the clouds, and they both stared at the barren, wasted surface of the planet.

“Uh…” Hunk said, “is it supposed to look like that?”

“The Galra…” Coran realized, noticing the massive black and purple towers over huge mining holes, “They’ve turned it into a mining colony; they’re killing the Balmera.”

“That can’t be good.”

Just then, a shadow passed over them and a  _ beep  _ alerted them to a communication attempt. Coran and Hunk glanced at each other before Coran accepted it.

“Um...hello?”  
“ _Hailing unidentified craft: give us your ship ID, entry code, and landing destination._ ”

Coran winked at Hunk, “I’ll handle this.” Then he flipped a switch to speak to them, “Um, yes, sorry – we don’t really need to land. We were just passing through, wanted to take a closer look, if that’s alright?”

“ _ Land immediately and prepare to be boarded. _ ”

“Ah, of course. Apologies, we’ll meet you down below!”

Coran ended the communication and sighed, drumming his fingers on the controls.

“Are we really going to go down and meet them?” Hunk asked.

“Nope!”

Then Coran thrust them down in a nosedive, falling fast down a massive mining hole. Hunk started screaming as they fell, gripping his seat as the walls of the mining hole passed by them.

But, as they kept going down and the ground was still unseen, Hunk tapered off his screaming and leaned back, “Oh. Um, how deep is this thing?”

Then the pod nicked a catwalk and began a tailspin, smoke coming off their wing, sending Hunk into another screaming spiral.

Coran grit his teeth and managed to straighten them out to land them safely, though roughly. They stuttered to a stop near the entrance of a tunnel at the bottom, the pod shutting off.

“Oh, oh thank god we’re alive,” Hunk sighed.

“Yes, well, not my best landing,” Coran said as he unbuckled.

“Hey, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.”

“Ha! I like that! Now let’s look around.”

The top of the pod opened and the two of them looked around, taking off their helmets as the readings said the air was breathable. It was dark, and the tunnels looked even darker. But as Hunk saw a couple of shadows, he smacked Coran’s shoulder, catching his attention. He pointed to the shadows and two pairs of glowing yellow eyes.

“Um...Coran? What lives in these tunnels?”

* * *

Pidge couldn’t believe that they were operating using video game logic.  _ _

They were jumping from side-to-side, using their jetpack to propel them up the elevator shaft, Mario style. Rover was trailing behind them, ready to catch them if they were to fall. But they got to the right level soon enough and managed to pry the doors open.

“Woah,” they said as they began to walk down the catwalk, “Allura, I think I’m here. And judging by the energy output, I’d say they’ve started the launch sequence.”

“ _ Yes, we know, but we have some time. Now, head down the catwalk towards the engine. There will be a control hub.” _

“Okay,” Pidge said, “I’m here.”

“ _ Open the hatch and look for the centre computer control hub. Have you done that?” _

“Yeah, I see it.”

“ _ Now, enter the following sequence –” _

“Wait, wait, wait!” Pidge cried, glancing at all the glowing tubes of energy, “Which one is it? The labels are all in Altean!”

“ _...The translators. Quiznak, they only translate verbally!” _

“So which one is it?!”

But suddenly, an arc of electricity hit the main orb, then electricity on all fronts from all valves. It looked like they were beginning the launch sequence in earnest.

“Allura?!” They cried again, but got no response, “Shit, the electricity is probably blocking out the signal. Um…” Pidge looked at the controls, then the tubes underneath. They summoned their bayard, “Whatever –  _ fuck it! _ ”

They stabbed their bayard into the energy tubes, getting a hearty shock in return, causing their muscles to contract and then release, throwing them back a good few feet.Pidge looked up, and saw that it had stopped.

* * *

“Sir! It seems that the engine has shorted out!”

Sendak growled and approached Haxus, “Pull up the cameras.”

He quickly obeyed, and neither were surprised to see a small Earthling running away from the damaged controls. 

“So we have a stowaway,” Sendak growled, “Take him out.”

* * *

Lance couldn’t help but moan as he swallowed down the mouthful of blueberry waffles.

“Dude, what’s your deal?” Marco joked, “It’s like you haven’t eaten in months.”

“I feel like I haven’t!” Lance shot back with a laugh, “Man, I almost forgot how good these are.”

“Oh, you’re too sweet,  _ mijo _ ,” Lance’s mother said kindly, “Eat as many as you want, I made plenty.”

“Thanks! By the way, are we doing anything today?” Lance asked, piling on the waffles, butter, and maple syrup (real, none of that fake shit).

“Hmm, I don’t think so?” His mom replied, “Your father is at work and I was planning on making a turkey dinner. Why, do you have plans?”

“I dunno,” Lance admitted, “I feel like I’m supposed to do something, something important. Not sure what though.”

“I’m sure it’ll come to you,” Lisa offered.

“If not, it must not have been important,” Luis added cheerfully.

“ _ Tìo  _ Lance!” Silvio suddenly said, tugging on Lance’s arm while Nadia stood by, “Are you gonna take us surfing? You said you’d teach us!”

“Am I allowed?” Lance asked with a laugh, looking towards Lisa.

“I’ve seen you enough,” Lisa said with a smile, “Hunk really has taught you well. I suppose you can teach the kids the basics, but I  _ will  _ be watching.”

“Of course!” Lance grinned and began shovelling his waffles in his mouth.

“Lance,  _ chiquito _ ,” his grandmother chided as she came into the kitchen to refill her tea, “Don’t eat so fast, you’ll get cramps.”

“You do,” his grandpa said, coming up behind him and ruffling his hair, “and I’m gonna have to go in after ya. You really gonna make your  _ abuelo  _ go in after you?”

Lance laughed, “No, of course not! I’m a great swimmer, cramps or no. Probably the best swimmer here.”

“Hey!” Rachel protested, punching his arm, “You forgetting that you’re sitting next to a swimming champion? I don’t see any trophies with  _ your  _ name on them!”

“I don’t need any trophies!” Lance declared, “I’m a Paladin of Voltron.”

Then something strange happened.

Everything... _ flickered. _

His family’s smiling faces and the sunny kitchen with the ocean in the background disappeared, replaced for a moment by a large white chamber lit by a giant purple crystal. There was a man with black and white armor, a shock of white hair lying next to him. In front of him were two purple aliens in orange and black armor, and one of them looked  _ horribly  _ familiar, like a giant purple bat.

But then he shook his head and the strange image was gone. He was back in his kitchen, eating his mom’s homemade waffles, his family laughing and joking around with him.

“What the heck is a Paladin of Voltron?” Rachel asked.

Lance opened his mouth to respond, but found he didn’t know the answer. So instead, he laughed, “Honestly? I don’t know!”


	8. Voltron Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so this chapter was super fun to write, and this is honestly one of my fave episodes lol. I didn't change too much, mostly just added a couple of scenes and changed it around a little. I'm really happy with this one, and I hope you are too!
> 
> Thabks, and happy reading :)

**18 Months Ago**

Katie sat at the dinner table with her family, laughing and joking around.

“Matthew Jason Holt!” Her mother snapped, “Are you feeding scraps to Jake again?”

Matt laughed and held his hands up with a grin, “Guilty as charged. I just can’t help it! I won’t be able to see him for like, nine months! I can’t  _ not  _ hand-feed him!”

“Don’t you dare pity him,” Sam said as he pointed an accusing fork at his son, “he’s gonna be eating all the kibble and home-cooked meals he wants.  _ We’re  _ the ones who are going to be living off of freeze-dried peas for almost a year.”

“Oh come on Dad,” Matt laughed, “We all know you love those peas.”

“I do,” Sam admitted with a sigh, “I don’t know what it is about  _ peas  _ of all things, but they’re the one food that actually gets better when you freeze dry them.”

Katie sighed and leaned her arms on the table, “I’m really gonna miss you guys. I wish I could come up there with you.”

“You know,” Sam said with a gentle smile, his glasses shining in the late evening light, “something tells me that someday, you’re gonna be a part of your own crew, flying away to worlds we can’t even imagine yet! I bet my bottom dollar that you’re going to be a part of something that makes the whole world sit up and watch.”

**15 Months Ago**

“Is everything alright?” Eileen Holt asked as she and Katie sat down across from Director Iverson in his office.

He sighed as he shut the door, sitting down at his chair and folding his hands together before resting them on the desk.

“I’m afraid not, Mrs. Holt. I have some bad news.”

Katie felt her heart drop into her feet as her blood ran cold.

“W-what happened?” Eileen asked, her eyes widening.

“We’ve lost all communication with the crew,” Iverson admitted calmly, his eyes locking eyes with Eileen’s, “They failed to check in for today. We are doing our best to learn what has happened.”

“What could cause this?” Eileen asked.

“It could be anything from solar waves to gravitational interference. We will keep looking, as this mission is our top priority. However, we will be releasing a press conference soon, and I wanted to make sure you two had all the facts first.”

“We appreciate that, Director. Thank you.”

* * *

“Oh, Eileen, Katie!”

They both turned to see Adam jogging towards them with a smile.

“Hello Adam,” Eileen replied as they stopped outside Iverson’s office, “I’m assuming you’ve heard the news?”

“Yeah,” Adam admitted, “but I’m not overly worried. Communication can be difficult when they’re five lightyears away. They’re looking into it, but we won’t know for a little while.”

“Well, we’re having chicken pot pie for dinner, you’re welcome to come!”

Adam laughed, “I would love that.”

**14 Months Ago**

They were back in Iverson’s office, the air significantly more tense.

“Any news?” Eileen asked nervously.

Iverson sighed heavily, “Yes but...it’s not good. It has been a month since we last heard from anyone on the crew, and what little reconnaissance we’ve been able to do has revealed a crash. We’re not sure if it’s pilot or mechanical error yet.”

Eileen gasped, her eyes pricking with tears as she covered her mouth.

“But they already landed?” Katie spoke up, “How could they have crashed?”

“We’re still looking into it, but we think it may have been on the rover.”

“The  _ rover _ ?!” Katie cried, “How the hell did all three of them crash in the rover?”

“Katie,” Eileen warned quietly, sniffling.

“We’re still searching for details,” Iverson admitted, “But after a month of silence and no signs of life, we have no choice but to assume that the men on the Kerberos mission are dead.”

“Oh god,” Eileen sobbed, beginning to cry openly. Iverson placed a tissue box on the desk in front of her, and she took several.

“No,” Katie said, her world crashing down around her, a void of anger and grief swallowing her, “No, you don’t know that they’re dead!”

“Miss Holt,” Iverson said calmly, “I understand your insistence, but it has been a month since we’ve heard from them and there is no evidence to suggest anyone from the crew survived. It’s likely it was pilot error, but as I said, we’re still not sure yet.”

“If you’re not sure,” Katie cried, standing up to face Iverson, “then why are you saying they’re dead? They could still be alive!”

“Miss Holt.” Iverson’s voice took on a much firmer tone, “I understand your grief and anger, but there have been no signs of life for a  _ month _ . It is unfair to you or Shiro’s family to string you along on false hope. You will all be taken care of by the Garrison, but the formalities can wait until you are ready.”

* * *

Eileen and Adam had decided on a joint funeral.

The Garrison covered the costs of it, every penny, but the two felt that it would best suit everyone for there to only be one funeral.

So Katie sat beside her mother and Keith as three empty coffins were placed in the ground, all beside each other. A Rabbi prayed over the Holts’ graves, while a monk blessed Shiro’s.

Katie and her mother couldn’t stop crying, muffled sobs filling the dreary air of the cemetery. Adam had his hand on Eileen’s shoulder, crying silently.

Katie glanced at Keith. His eyes were dry, but glazed over, his fists balled at his side. He looked angry and lost, and Katie couldn’t blame him. They were burying empty coffins. No cremation service. No last rites. No cleansing of the body. 

And yet there was no  _ real  _ proof that the three men were dead, only a lack of evidence of life.

_ Innocent until proven guilty. Why not alive until proven dead? _

Katie set her jaw in determination as dirt was piled on and her mother cried into Adam’s shoulder. She would find that evidence, even if only for closure. 

**3 Months Ago**

“What the hell are you doing in here?!”

Katie gasped as the light flickered on and she heard Iverson’s voice, stepping away from his computer.

“I, um –”

“Get off my computer!” Iverson snapped, “I told you to stay out of here!”

“There’s something you’re not telling us!” Katie cried, “I know it! Don’t we deserve to know? I want to know what happened to my family!”

“I’ve told you everything you need to know,” Iverson growled, grabbing Katie’s arm and dragging her into the hallway, despite her struggling. He handed her to a guard, who grabbed both her arms behind her back.

“I have been patient and lenient,” Iverson said, “because Sam and Matthew were great men, and I understand your pain. And had it not been for your marks and mind, I would never allow you to attend the Garrison. But I am tired of your sneaking around, so hear this: if I catch you in my office or on  _ any  _ confidential files again, you will be banned from the Galaxy Garrison for life. Do you understand me?”

“If you wanted to kick me out,” Katie snapped, “you would’ve months ago! Your promises are as empty as the coffins we buried!”

“Enough! Montgomery, escort Miss Holt off the premises. Perhaps I do need to review her admission status.”

* * *

Katie sat in silence as Eileen drove. There was a song on the radio, some pop tune, but neither of them were listening to it.

“Are you still allowed to go to the Garrison in the fall?” Eileen asked after a little while.

“I...I’m not sure,” Katie admitted tearfully, watching the desert city pass them by, “I think I blew it.”

“I see. And what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Right. Well, let me know when you do.”

“I will.”

* * *

That night, Katie approached her mother with a plan.

She could get into the Garrison files and change her own information, completely change her name and identity. Katie needed access to the Garrison’s information if they were ever going to figure out what happened to their family, and even  _ if  _ she were still accepted, Iverson would be watching her like a hawk.

So she needed to change her name in all her files, including her legal name. Katie Holt would have to become Pidge Gunderson.

Eileen agreed, and Katie’s name was changed within a week. If anyone asked why Katie ended up not going to the Galaxy Garrison like she’d always dreamed, Eileen would sigh and say that it was too painful for her daughter, that she was going to some ivy-league feeder school.

**1 Month Ago**

Kaite stared at herself in the mirror, her fingers running through her new hair. It was short, wild, and curly – much like Matt’s and her mother’s. As she put on her brother’s old glasses, Katie thought she looked more like Matt than Katie. 

Hunk and Lance stood in the hallway, looking at the class lists and chatting.

“Oh man!” Lance said cheerfully, “This year is gonna be awesome now that the resident loose cannon has dropped out! Hasta la later, Keith!”

“Hey look, now that we’re in Fighter,” Hunk said cheerfully, pointing at their names, “we get a Comms Tech. Someone named Pidge Gunderson.”

“Who the heck is that?” Lance asked.

“Uh, that would be me.”

They both turned to see Pidge standing behind them in a Garrison uniform, the two stripes on their shoulders saying that they were in the same year as Lance and Hunk, though they looked young.

“Nice to meet you!” Hunk said cheerfully, shaking Pidge’s hand, “I’m Hunk Garrett, this is Lance McClain. I’m the mechanic, and he’s –”

“The star pilot,” Lance said confidently as he shook Pidge’s hand, “You know, I have a good feeling about this team! I say we should get some bonding in before the semester starts, I know a place nearby that….”

As Lance and Hunk began to talk, Pidge stopped paying attention. They saw Iverson at the end of the hallway, speaking to some teacher or officer or someone. Then he turned and began to walk towards them. Pidge felt their heart hammering in their chest – Iverson didn’t think Katie Holt was attending the Garrison, so if they were recognized, they were screwed. As he approached, Pidge saluted with their left, hiding their face.

“Wrong hand, cadet,” was all Iverson said, causing Hunk and Lance to both straighten up and salute as Pidge fixed themselves. Their heart dropped as Iverson stopped, looking at them quizzically with his one good eye.

“You, cadet – what’s your name?”

“Pidge Gunderson, sir.”

“Hmm. You related to the Holts at all?”

“The Holts? You mean, the men on the Kerberos mission?”

“Yes. You look an awful lot like one of them. Are you cousins or something?”

“Afraid not, sir.”

“Alright. At ease, cadets.”

Pidge sighed in relief as Iverson walked away.

“You know,” Lance said, leaning in a bit to get a closer look, “you  _ do  _ look a lot like Matt Holt. Maybe you’re his long-lost brother or something.”

“Look, you guys seem great,” Pidge said, taking a step back and adjusting their glasses, “but I have stuff to do. I’ll see you in class.”

As Pidge walked away, they heard Lance say, “What’s  _ his  _ problem?”, but they couldn’t be bothered.

They had a mission.

  
  


**Present Day**

Shiro did not like the sense of déja vù he had when he woke up.

He was bound with his hands behind his back in the bridge, watching as Sendak and Haxus spoke to each other. Except this time, he could actually understand them.

“–and terminate him.”

_ Him? _

“Sir, it seems that there’s a transmission coming out of the castle. Here.”

“ _ You’re going to have to go down beneath the main hull, that’s where the particle barrier generator is. You need to shut that down so that Keith and I can get in and help you.” _

Okay, so that was Princess Allura. But who was she talking to?

“ _ On it, Princess! I’ll let you know when I’m there!” _

Shiro’s heart dropped as he heard Pidge’s voice.

Pidge was alone in the castle.

“She’s helping him sabotage her own castle,” Haxus realized.

“But she’s also revealing his location,” Sendak said, then he turned to the remaining five sentries, “Go to the generator room and dispose of him.”

_ No! _

Shiro wanted to yell at Sendak, but he had to be smart about this. They had taken his helmet, he probably had a light concussion, and Lance was still seriously injured, out cold. Sendak seemed to be preoccupied with getting the ship up and working again, and if they caught his attention, then it could mean trouble for them.

So Shiro kept his mouth shut and listened, hoping that Pidge would be alright.

“As for you,” Sendak continued, turning to Haxus, “I need that engine up and working again. Zarkon has commanded us to bring the Lions of Voltron to him, and we shall not fail him. This ship will be in the air before sunrise.”

* * *

  
Coran and Hunk quickly got out of the pod, Hunk summoning his bayard and hefting it as the two shadows began to approach.

“Stay back!” He warned, “I don’t know how to use this very well!”

But the two approached, stepping into the light and stopping so the other two could get a good look.

“Hunk, stop!” Coran called, laying a hand on his shoulder, “They’re Balmerans!”

“So...not Galra?”

“No, they’re not Galra,” Coran said.

“And neither are you,” the oneBalmeran noticed, “I’ve never seen anything like the two of you.”

Before anything else could be said, they heard the sound of an approaching machine. They all looked up to see a Galra fighter descending into the large pit, a red beam scanning in circles.

“A patrol,” the other one said, “Come, we must take our leave.”

“Wait!” Hunk cried, putting his bayard away, “Can you please help us? If the Galra find us, we’ll be killed or tortured or who knows what else!”

“That is not our problem,” the tall one said, “Shay, let us leave.”

“No!” Shay responded, stepping out into the light, “We have to help them!”

The other glanced up at the slowly descending patrol and scowled, “Vex.” Then the two of them helped Hunk and Coran push the pod into the large tunnel. Thankfully, the pod was small and light, so they made it into the tunnel and around the bend to avoid detection from the scanner.

“Thanks guys,” Hunk said with a sigh as he watched the scanner pass them by, “You have no idea how much we appreciate it. I’m Hunk, and this is Coran.”

“My name is Shay,” the smaller one introduced with a smile, “and this is my brother, Rax. If you don’t mind, how did you come to us?”

“We’re actually looking for a crystal,” Coran explained, “and you lovely people are  _ perfect  _ for helping us find it!”

* * *

Pidge ran into the generator for the particle barrier and stopped, awing at the energy crackling around them along the edges of the walkway.

“Alright, I’m here, Princess,” Pidge said into their helmet, Rover trailing after them as always, “But...this technology is so advanced, I don’t know if I’ll be able to figure it out.”

“ _ Pidge, I know you can do it,”  _ Allura affirmed, “ _ And you  _ have  _ to; your fellow Paladins’ lives are on the line.” _

“Cool,” Pidge mumbled, making their way down the hallway, “no pressure or anything. So just...talk me through this.”

“ _ Well, first off – stay away from the energy arcs. The barrier is also a weapon, and that energy powers it. Whatever you do,  _ **_do not touch them_ ** _.” _

“Stay away from the lightning, I think I can do that.”

“ _ What I’m going to need you to do is –” _

Rover beeped then and shoved Pidge out of the way with a yelp, narrowly missing a blaster shot from one of the Galra sentries. Pidge ran down the hall in a zig-zag, trying to avoid the blasts as four sentries started shooting. Pidge was just yelling, because hey, shit was stressful, okay?

* * *

“Pidge?” Allura cried, Pidge’s yelling and blaster fire echoing in her ears, “Pidge! Are you there?!”

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked, “What’s going on?”

“Pidge sounds like he’s taking heavy fire, but he’s not answering.”

“Well, is he still screaming?”

“Yes, it’s hurting my ears.”

“Then he’s alive,” Keith said, looking up at the castle, “It’s when the screaming stops that we have a problem. We need to get in there and help him.”

“Wait! Maybe we don’t need to!” Allura realized, taking off Keith’s helmet, “Here, put this back on and let me know if anything changes.”

“What’re you doing?” He asked, putting his helmet back on. He wondered if Allura was wearing perfume, because it smelled  _ really  _ nice.

“Contacting the mice,” Allura said as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“The  _ mice _ ?!” Keith cried. He wanted to point out the many flaws in her logic: how far away they were from the mice, how they’d be able to help Pidge, oh yeah – and they were  _ mice. _

“Ssh!” Allura shushed before closing her eyes again.

_ Please,  _ she thought desperately, imagining her thoughts travelling throughout the castle, finding the mice where they slept in her jewellery box,  _ We need your help. Find Pidge. Help him! _

She felt movement, scurrying, and she knew she had made contact.

* * *

Back in the castle, Pidge and Rover were crouched behind one of the control posts for the energy arcs, hiding as the sentries slowly advanced, blasting away.

“You kidding me?!” They hissed, looking at a small holo-map of the room, “My only way out is through a vent  _ two storeys  _ up?” They yelped as a blast just barely missed their head, “Okay, how about  _ this _ ?” 

The Paladin suits stored data; the more they wore them, the more data collected. And between all the training, the fighting, and diplomacy stuff, the Paladins had been wearing their armor a  _ lot _ . 

Which meant that Pidge was able to create a near-perfect hologram of themselves with ease. They sent it out running diagonally towards the sentries. The robots shot at it as the hologram jumped up in front of one of the arcs. 

Just as Pidge predicted, the energy reacted violently, lashing out to connect with the metal sentries. The one closest to the lighting was fried entirely, crumpling to the floor. It hit three others, stalling them just long enough for Pidge to make a break for it.

Because the sentries had Stormtrooper aim, Pidge was able to dodge the blasts from the last one and use their bayard as a grappling hook to swing up to the open vent, Rover shoving the door in as Pidge swung in after. 

One sentry stayed back to guard the room while the others ran off, likely tracking Pidge through their biorhythm.

Rover led them through the vents out on the training deck, and Pidge kicked the cover off before climbing out. They began to run across the room, hearing a  _ crash! _ behind them as two sentries leapt out of the observation deck and onto the training floor. 

Pidge opened up the controls on their armor. After seeing Lance and Keith fuck each other over their first day of training, Pidge decided to download the maze onto their armor database. 

“Let’s see how well you do,” Pidge said as they activated the maze. The one sentry reached out, the maze slicing its arm off as it activated. The other sentry remained undamaged, making its way to the exit. But Pidge grinned as they turned the maze invisible, effectively trapping the other sentry.

They climbed into another vent in the room, Rover still leading Pidge.

While they climbed through, they heard a clambering and swore, trying to move faster. Unfortunately, the sentry found them, beginning to fire at them. In such a confined space, even the shittiest shot in the universe could hit something. 

And a shot  _ did  _ hit – square in the centre of Pidge’s jetpack, effectively putting it out of commission. It also caused them to be bumped off the wall and sent flying into a downward vent with no grip. Pidge shot their bayard up as Rover supported them so that their arms wouldn’t be ripped out of their sockets. They stopped and were able to plant their feet along the thin ridges of the downward vent. A couple of shots rained down and Pidge yanked their bayard down, feeling it connect with the sentry and causing it to lose its grip. Pidge jumped to the other side as the sentry came tumbling down.

Pidge sighed in relief and shot their bayard up again, slowly pulling them up the vent.

* * *

Shay and Rax had led Coran and Hunk to their family’s cave, deep within the tunnels. They’d been introduced to their parents and grandmother, who had quickly shoved bowls of stew in their hands and sat them down at a fire.

“This stew is amazing!” Hunk praised with a smile, “What is this in here? Potatoes?”

Shay’s grandmother smiled, “Cave root for the skin, cave bugs for the soul.”

Coran gagged and set his bowl down, “Ah. Well...thank you.”

Hunk shrugged, “Whatever, it tastes good and smells like potatoes. Anyways, how many of you are down here?”

“Oh,” Shay’s father said, “there are thousands of us that make the Balmera our home, working in the mines and harvesting crystals for Zarkon’s army.”

“Wait...really?” Hunk asked, lowering his bowl, “ _ All  _ of you are miners?”

“Well, we have our doctors, our priests,” the mother explained, “But for the most part, yes. We mine our entire lives, though it is painful for us – the extraction is unnatural and painful for the Balmera.”

“So that’s why this planet is so ill,” Coran realized, “It’s being taken from, with nothing given back.”

“That’s so...sad,” Hunk said softly, “Zarkon has enslaved an entire planet and then just  _ ruined  _ it. I just can’t believe it was possible for someone to do that.”

“Zarkon may rule,” their father said with a soft smile, “but we still have our family, and for that we are grateful.”

“And our family would be torn asunder if the Galra knew we were hiding these two,” Rax suddenly protested, slamming his empty bowl down on the stone bench he sat on, “You have come to take from the Balmera and give nothing back, just like the Galra!”

“No, I know the exchange ritual,” Coran said firmly, “I will not take a single shard of crystal without giving my own vitality.”

Rax narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “This ritual is known only to Balmerans. How do  _ you  _ know it?”

“There was a Balmera near my home, very far from here, a very long time ago. My grandmother often took me there and taught me the ritual. It is sacred, and I would not dream of hurting the Balmera.”

“Your kindness is rare,” Shay lamented, kneeling down to press a palm to the cave floor, the space lighting up blue, “We can feel her suffering around us.”

“I’m sorry,” Hunk offered, “This is awful, and we  _ want  _ to help, but the Galra attacked our castle and my friend is hurt really badly. If we don’t get a crystal back, he’s going to die, and the universe is royally screwed. The faster we get this crystal, the faster we can come back and help you.”

“We’re looking for a battleship class crystal,” Coran explained, “Do you know of any?”

Shay’s father frowned, “Those are incredibly rare, and guarded closely by Galra soldiers until they’re ready to harvest. I fear that your quest may be in vain.”

“There is one….” Shay admitted, “It was found a few movements ago, and it is nearly excavated.”

“Shay,  _ enough _ ,” Rax said, “do not give them false hope. As our father said, the crystal is under heavy watch from the Galra, and they’re still looking for you no doubt. You have no chance of getting out of here alive, crystal or no crystal.”

“Great!” Hunk said, throwing his hands up in frustration, “So the  _ one  _ thing in the universe that can save my best friend is basically the hardest thing ever to get.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the  _ hardest _ ,” Coran mused, “Collecting scaultrite from the belly of a Weblum is no jaunt in the meadow, I can tell you that from experience. But...yes, this is definitely a difficult mission.”

“You are welcome to stay until another crystal is found,” Shay’s mother offered kindly, “Our kind find them first, and we may be able to hide it until it is ready to harvest.”

“I really appreciate your offer, I  _ do, _ ” Hunk assured, “but Lance could die any moment, if he hasn’t died already.” Hunk’s voice caught in his throat, realizing the weight of everything. Lance was  _ dying. _

Coran seemed to notice Hunk’s distress because he clapped and stood up, “Well, I think I shall do some reconnaissance, see what I can learn. Hunk, you do what you can to get that pod fixed up – we’re not going to be doing  _ anything  _ until we have a working pod.”

* * *

Nadia and Silvio got tired of surfing pretty quickly.

Lance only had his board, as no one else in his family surfed, and the only reason  _ he  _ did was because he had spent the previous year’s March Break with Hunk at his home in Maui. The very first thing he did when he came home was buy a surfboard. The waves weren’t nearly as good as Hawaii’s, nor was the surfing scene as big, but it was still fun.

His niece and nephew loved riding on his board with him, but after a couple of wipeouts, they decided that they’d rather go swimming in the shallows. Lance happily splashed around with them, and at one point, Rachel joined them and started a chicken fight.

Lance and Silvio won,  _ obviously _ . As they were celebrating their victory, Lance saw something out of the corner of his eye.

It was the scary purple dude, standing on the beach a little ways away from them, just staring.

Lance froze as he locked eyes – blue on yellow. He could hear the hum of the giant purple arm even over the waves. He felt dread fill his heart, and his head began to hurt. 

Rachel took advantage of his distraction and shoved him and Silvio, causing them to go under. Lance popped back up and looked towards the beach, but the alien was gone.

“Yo Lance, you good?” Rachel asked, her smile light but eyes worried.

“I swore I just saw Sendak,” Lance said, still staring at where he stood on the beach, “Right over there. Didn’t you guys see him?”

“Who the heck is Sendak?” Rachel asked.

“That’s a weird name!” Silvio declared, “Sendak!”

“Sendak, Sendak! Sounds scary!” Nadia agreed.

“You  _ looked  _ scared,” Rachel said, “You sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting kinda weird today.”

“Got a little bit of a headache,” Lance admitted.

“Let’s head inside then,” Rachel said as she scooped Nadia up, “You might’ve hit your head or swallowed too much seawater.”

“Yeah. Yeah, probably.”

* * *

“What’s the sky like?”

Hunk paused his tweaking of the pod’s engine, glancing up at Shay. She leaned on the undamaged wing of the pod, which still remained in the cave, watching him with those wide, reflective, curious eyes.

“You’ve really never seen the sky?” He asked as he continued his work, “Like...ever?”

“Well, we can see a small bit of it from the tunnels,” she admitted with a sigh. Then she smiled sheepishly and climbed up on top of the pod, reaching one of her large hands out, “Sometimes, at night, I’ll climb as high as I dare, just to get a better look. Every now and then, I think I see spots of light in the sky.”

“Those are stars,” Hunk told her kindly.

“What are stars?”

“They’re, um, well they’re giant burning balls of gas. Your sun is a star, but the ones you see at night are just so far away that they look really tiny. They’re really hundreds of thousands times bigger than your planet.”

“Wow,” Shay breathed. Then she leaned over to watch Hunk, “You know, I’m terribly jealous of you and the other one. It must be wonderful to fly around, travel from place to place. It must be amazing.”

“It is pretty neat, but I miss my home a lot,” Hunk admitted, “I was kinda just whisked away, and I never got to tell my family where I was going. So I guess I’m a little jealous of you, because you still get to stay with your family.”

“Can you not return to them?” Shay asked gently, “Or has Zarkon taken them?”

“No, the Galra haven’t reached my planet yet. But, well, it’s complicated. I can’t go home yet – none of us can. We have to help people, people like you. But you know, I think I finally get it, why I’m supposed to be here. Or maybe I just finally  _ want  _ to help.” Hunk stood up and pulled his goggles up so he could look at Shay, smiling at her, “I want to help your people. I want you guys to be free to do whatever you want, without worrying about the Galra.”

“Free?” Shay asked, her mouth moving around the word awkwardly, “I...I don’t know this word. You’ve been speaking perfect Balmeric, but I can’t understand ‘free’. Why?”

“Oh, we rode in some magic ship,” Hunk explained, “So we have these intergalactic translators in our heads – to me, you’re speaking English. But do you guys really not have a word for freedom in your language?”

Shay shook her head.

“Okay wow, that is... _ sad.  _ Well, being free means that you can do what you want, go where you want – there’s nothing controlling you.  _ Freedom _ . To be  _ free. _ ”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Shay said with a nervous laugh, “Zarkon controls everything – it is a miracle that his reign has not reached your home planet.”

“Well, the times they are a-changin,” Hunk said with a grin, “And we’re the ones changing them.”

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

“Well…” Hunk glanced around and lowered his voice, Shay leaning down a bit to hear him better, “You ever heard of Voltron?”

Shay sat back and scoffed, “In nursery rhymes and lullabies, perhaps. It’s just a child’s tale.”

Hunk frowned, “Well, it’s real.”

“Oh, are you searching for Voltron?” Shay sighed, “It’s no use. Like I said, it is not real.”

Hunk smiled, “You sure? Because I’m one of the Paladins. I fly the Yellow Lion; I’m a leg.”

Shay looked around, as if searching for the missing ship, “Well...where is your Voltron? Why is your Lion not here with you?”

“Remember how I said that our castle was attacked?” Hunk sighed, “Our crystal that powered it was destroyed, so our Lions are trapped inside. Coran and I managed to get a pod out and get here to grab a new crystal, and I’m worried we have the easy job.”

“But...you have no idea how you’re going to get that crystal, no guarantee you’ll even be  _ able  _ to excavate it, load it into the pod, and fly away without being shot down. In a  _ pod! _ ”

“Yeah, well, my teammates are facing up against Sendak and his guys, and Lance is hurt pretty bad. That’s why I  _ have  _ to get this crystal back to them. But as soon as I do,” Hunk promised, “and Sendak is taken down, we’re coming straight here to free you guys and save the Balmera.”

“Enough!”

They both jumped and turned to see Rax approaching them. Shay jumped down off the pod, shrinking in on herself a little bit.

“Rax –”

“You are filling her head with  _ lies _ ,” Rax hissed, towering over Hunk. But Hunk stood his ground.

“No, I’m not,” he said, proud of how confident he sounded, “I’m not lying. I really am a Paladin. You think I just wear all this yellow for no reason?”

“I do not pretend to understand you,” Rax snapped, “Things will never change, they haven’t for ten thousand deca-phoebs. Come, Shay. We must work.”

Rax dragged Shay away, and she cast one last look at Hunk before disappearing around a corner.

Hunk turned back to the pod with a newfound determination.

* * *

Pidge sat perched on a ladder at the back of the central energy chamber, watching with glee as Haxus cursed to himself as he desperately tried to fix Pidge’s mess.

Of course, Pidge didn’t climb the ladder just to watch Haxus. Oh no, there was a small panel that gave them access to the controls, and Rover leaned up against their back as they monitored it on their Paladin armor.

“Finally!” Haxus growled, his low voice echoing throughout the chamber as the giant ball of energy began to glow brighter again, “Pushing power levels up….”

“And up, and up, and up,” Pidge said with a smirk as they adjusted the controls on their armor, “Oh man, I would  _ not  _ want to be touching a metal surface when this thing overloads. Which should be in three...two...one!”

Perfectly timed, the generator released a large shockwave. Pidge jumped off the ladder and grabbed onto Rover, not touching any of the connecting metal. Haxus was not so lucky, and he cried out as the electricity laced through him.

It wasn’t enough to kill him, but he was certainly winded by the time Pidge landed in front of him, bayard at the ready. 

“ _ You?! _ ” He cried as he stood, “A mere  _ child  _ has been causing all this mess? Thwarting our plans?”

“What?” Pidge teased, “You’ve never seen  _ Home AloneI _ ? This is nothin’!”

“I have seen  _ everything _ ,” Haxus spat back as he stood, drawing a purple blade, “I am a soldier for the Galra Empire – nothing will stop me except victory or death!”

With no warning, he lunged forward. Pidge managed to dodge, but they were clumsy. As they stumbled back, just barely blocking with their bayard, they made a mental note to join Keith on the training deck more often.

Haxus knocked Pidge off their feet and the wind out of them as well. They landed by the control panel, gasping as Haxus grinned, about to stab them with his blade.

But Rover came to Pidge’s defense, bonking into Haxus’s face. He snarled and stepped back, swinging to hit the bot, but Rover just flew out of the way. Pidge used the opportunity to slide past Haxus, looping their bayard around his legs. They rose to their knees and pulled it, causing him to stumble back, teetering on the edge. Rover once again bashed into his face, knocking him back. Pidge thought that was the final blow, but his hand lashed out, grabbing Rover. 

His feet were dangling over the void near the reactor, Rover being the only thing holding him up. Rover beeped and Pidge grit their teeth, knowing what its little AI was thinking.

“Don’t you dare!” Pidge yelled, raising their bayard and shooting it at Haxus’s chest. 

In all honesty, they weren’t sure what was going to happen. They thought about when they had shocked Lance with it when they all first got their bayards, and thought maybe if Pidge could shock Haxus enough, he would let go of Rover. 

And...well….

As the green grappling hook sunk into Haxus’s armor, green electricity laced over his body and he screamed, letting go of Rover as Pidge pulled their bayard back. He quickly fell down into the depths of the generator chamber, and Rover pushed Pidge a couple of steps back.

“Well,” they said as they stared at the spot where Haxus had been, “I just fucking killed a dude. That’s probably gonna give me nightmares.”

“ _ You what?!” _

Pidge jumped at Keith’s voice in their head, remembering that he could hear everything through their helmet.

“Keith! I got Haxus, so I have access to the controls now.”

“ _ Great! I’ll give you to Allura. _ ”

Pidge heard a jostling as Keith took off his helmet, but they were distracted by Sendak’s voice crackling over the controls.

“ _ Haxus, report in. Why is the generator not operational yet?” _

“Haxus is dead!” Pidge snapped, “And you’re next!”

“ _ You,” _ Sendak growled, “ _ This ship is mine, you insignificant Paladin. You have merely slowed me down. Hand yourself over, and your death will be quick and painless. _ ”

“Yeah, that offer sucks. Some advice: death is never a good option. Get yourself some better leverage, especially considering we’ve already beaten you before.”

“ _ But I have stolen your castle, separated you, drove a knife into your weaknesses. If that’s not enough  _ leverage  _ for you, maybe your leader can convince you.” _

Pidge frowned as they felt their heart hammering in their chest, but it stopped as they heard Shiro’s voice.

“ _ Pidge!? Just get away, this is a tra– AUGH!” _

“Shiro!” Pidge cried, Shiro’s scream echoing in the chamber, “No! Stop it!”

“ _You can stop this,”_ Sendak replied, his voice smug, “ _Just hand yourself over._ _You have thirty doboshes.”_

The line clicked and went dead. Pidge took a shaky breath before speaking into their helmet, “Did you guys hear that?”

“ _ Yes,” _ Allura replied, sounding unnerved, “ _ Pidge, you can’t hand yourself in. Please, the mice are on their way to take down the particle barrier.” _

“I’m not gonna surrender,” Pidge said, “But...what should I do?”

“ _ Try to distract him. Hopefully Keith and I will be in by the time you get there. We’ll keep you updated.” _

“Right.” Pidge turned and managed a small smile for Rover, “Come on. We have a few minutes to create a plan.”

* * *

“I have to admit,” Sendak drawled as he stood over Shiro, grinning a terrifying grin, “I am impressed with you Earthlings. I saw a few of your matches myself, Champion, and I could hardly believe you weren’t Galra. Then you escaped, only to become a Paladin.” Sendak laughed, “Impressive indeed. Now the smallest of your crew is sabotaging my ship, it makes me wonder if the rest of your kind shares your spirit. But then again…” Sendak nudged Lance with his foot, earning a small groan from him, “They might be more like your friend here. He won’t last long.”

“Leave him alone,” Shiro said through gritted teeth.

“Mm. I should recommend that we should invade Earth,” Sendak continued, “If nothing else, your kind will make entertaining gladiators. Though Zarkon seems reluctant to invade your planet. Our forces remain on the outskirts of your star system, but I cannot understand why. Though, it is not my place to question Zarkon.”

* * *

“Hunk!” Coran greeted cheerfully as he approached Hunk by the pod, “How are we doing over here?”

“Well, she’s up and ready, just giving her a final once-over,” Hunk replied, then he sighed, “What about you? Rax keeps coming and asking if we’re ready to leave yet, and he’s kinda freaking me out.”

“Yes, he  _ really  _ doesn’t like us,” Coran admitted, then he smiled and clapped his hands together, “But some good news! I do have a plan!”

* * *

“Coran. This is a terrible plan. Like,  _ cartoonishly  _ bad.”

“I have no idea what a cartoon is, but it can’t be all that bad. Now hush! Legs don’t talk!”

“Why am I always the legs,” Hunk grumbled as he moved forward, Coran flopping around on his shoulders.

The genius Altean’s “plan” was for them to disguise themselves as a guard. Both of them. As the same guard. This meant that Coran sat on Hunk’s shoulders like a little kid watching a parade while he manipulated a broken sentry’s arm and head and hid them behind a very large burlap tarp Coran had found. Collectively, they were about ten feet tall, as Coran was an adult Altean, and Hunk was not a short person. As a result, they looked like five kids stacked up on top of each other trying to sneak into a movie.

The two approached the battleship crystal (not gracefully, by the way), which was watched by two guards.

“Hello, boys!” Coran greeted, waving the sentry arm he had ‘found’, “Time for a surprise shift change! Boss said he wanted you back at base.”

“Present I.D. code,” the one said.

“Welp, I didn’t want to have to do this,” Coran said with a heavy sigh, gesturing with the arm, “But I’m pulling rank. I’m going to have to report you for this.”

“Present I.D. code,” it said again as the two raised their guns, “Or be destroyed.”

“Ah, yes, fine. I think I have it….right...here!”

Coran ripped off the tarp to reveal Hunk with his bayard, and he quickly blasted the two. Once they were down, Coran scrambled down from his shoulders and went to inspect the massive crystal.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Coran chirped.

“It didn’t work!” Hunk protested, “We had to shoot them, which means other sentries probably heard it. Coran, they’re  _ robots,  _ why would you think pulling rank would work?”

“Altean A.I. is usually far nicer and much more polite. Now stand guard, I need to get the crystal. This may take a minute.” As Coran placed his hands on the crystal, it and the ground around it began to glow a light blue – the same colour as when Shay placed her hand on the ground back on the cave.

“We may not have a minute,” Hunk said nervously, glazing around him and carefully listening for any approaching sounds, “We gotta hurry!”

“The connection has to be made,” Coran explained, his eyes closed as he concentrated on the crystal, “I’m not just going to take without giving some of my own energy in return.”

Hunk hummed in response, still anxious. He looked back to see the earth around the crystal peel away, the giant crystal tilting forward a bit. Coran caught it and bent his legs.

“Alright Hunk, help me with this.”

“Aren’t Alteans supposed to be like, super strong?”

“Not all Alteans,” Coran grumbled, shifting his feet a bit, “Only those with great mystical prowess. Now  _ help me lift this before I break my back. _ ”

“Alright, alright,” Hunk said, his bayard disappearing as he stood opposite Coran and grabbed the crystal. It was about his size, and he wondered how the hell they were going to get this to their pod without getting caught or dropping it on their toes. Hunk doubted their armor could stop his toes from being crushed by the crystal.

Just then, they heard the sound of approaching footsteps and they froze.

“Hunk, lift!” Coran commanded.

“What? No! We have to run!”

“We can’t go anywhere without the crystal.”

“Halt!”

Hunk turned his head to see sentries stopping their path behind him. Peeking around the crystal proved that more were coming from the other end of the tunnel.

“Um, Coran?” Hunk mumbled, “What’s the plan?”

“Plan. Um, yes.” Coran cleared his throat as he stood, “Alright, everyone, blasters and badges – give them up!”

The sound of two dozen blasters charging up rang in their ears and Hunk sighed, raising his hands in surrender.

“What are you doing?!” Coran cried.

“Um, surrendering? So we can live for another few minutes?”

“We can take them!”

“Coran. No we cannot.”

Coran sighed and raised his arms as well as the sentries came to cuff them, “I should’ve brought Red. He would’ve fought them.”

“Yeah well, Keith fights anything that moves.”

* * *

Lance strummed his guitar absently, swinging back and forth in the hammock in his backyard.

His headache had lessened somewhat, now just a dull throb behind his eyes. But he just couldn’t shake the feeling that accompanied it – the notion that something was  _ wrong,  _ that there was something he  _ needed  _ to do, somewhere he  _ needed  _ to be. Yet, as he mulled it over more and more, he just couldn’t think of what it is that was bothering him so intensely. 

“Lance _ ,  _ is something wrong?”

Lance looked up to see his dad approaching him, a drink in hand. He pulled up a lawn chair next to Lance, smiling at him.

“I dunno,” Lance admitted, watching his family move about the house and backyard, “I just...it’s just like this  _ feeling  _ that won’t go away. Like there’s something important that I’m forgetting about.”

“It can’t be that important if you’re forgetting about it,” his dad joked, “I’m sure it’s just nerves. You’re starting school in a couple of months – you got moved up to Fighter Class with Hunk, so it’s natural for you to be a little nervous.”

“I don’t think that’s it…. It feels...bigger, somehow.”

His dad laughed, “Bigger than the Garrison? Than your career path?”

Lance plucked a string before saying, “Is there a war going on?”

His dad frowned, “A war? No, of course not – there hasn’t been a war on Earth in years. Why would there be a war?”

“I dunno. I feel like there is, and I’m supposed to fight in it.”

Lance’s dad sighed heavily and took a drink before speaking again, “I was worried the Garrison might do this. It’s a space program, but it’s still a military institution.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their job is to create soldiers,” he explained, “to prepare for a war that may never come. They place value on combatants, but who are you fighting? What makes Fighter Class so special? Why is it so much better than Cargo?”

“Because you do cooler stuff.”

“Cooler doesn’t always mean better, Lance. What matters is how much you help people, and how happy you are doing it.”

“I...I guess so. But...I dunno, this doesn’t just feel like the Garrison or something. There’s a war, and it’s big, and I feel like it’s coming for you, and I have to stop it.”

“Every man has to fight their own war,” his dad said sagely, “But they don’t have to fight it alone. You’ve got friends and family to help you.”

“Friends…” Lance thought of the man with white hair collapsed beside him, of armor with different colours, pink and blue glowing marks and pointed ears, “I think my friends need me. They’re in trouble.”

“Well, do you need a ride?”

“I don’t...I don’t know where they are. Somewhere dark.”

“I think you just had a bad dream, kid,” his dad said, leaning back in his chair, “You’ll forget all about it by tomorrow.”

“Maybe…”

But it didn’t feel like a dream.

* * *

“I cannot  _ believe  _ you surrendered!”

Hunk sighed and leaned his head back against the rocky wall of their cell. They had been tossed in and uncuffed, awaiting any sort of news.

“It was either that or get gunned down by two dozen sentries,” Hunk replied, “Now I may not be a master strategist, but any plan that involves us living a little longer seems like a decent plan.”

Coran stopped in his pacing as his ears twitched. Hunk looked in the direction in which Coran was staring and stood. He saw a pair of yellow eyes approaching.

“They didn’t take my bayard,” Hunk said, summoning it to his hand, in its smaller form, “We can take one guy.”

“Oh, so now you want to fight?”

But as the figure approached, Hunk grinned.

“Maybe we don’t have to. It’s Shay!”

The two approached the bars as she came forward, holding a disembodied sentry arm. She pressed it to the hand pad, unlocking their cell.

“You have to hurry,” she said quietly, “I was assigned to take the crystal to the upper levels for the Galra to inspect, but I loaded it into your pod instead. It will not be long before they discover my ruse.”

“Thank you,” Hunk said as the three of them began to make their way through the tunnels, “But...why are you helping us? You could get in some serious trouble.”

“Your words touched me, and I wish for freedom,” she admitted with a smile, “I wish for all Balmerans to know freedom. I only hope your Voltron can make it so.”

“We will,” Hunk promised.

It wasn’t long before they made it back to their pod, but to their shock, they saw Rax waiting by it with a handful of sentries.

“Rax!” Shay cried as they all skidded to a halt, mere feet from their pod, from freedom, “What are you doing?!”

“Protecting you!” He yelled back, “These skylings have corrupted you with lies and false promises! I will not let our lives be torn apart by strangers.”

Hunk scowled and hefted his bayard, but Shay raised her hand, “No! The Balmera will aid us.”

She knelt down and pressed her palm to the ground, which began to glow blue once again. The walls around them in the cavern shook, and stalactites rained down on the sentries as Rax leapt out of the way.

“Shay, no!” He called out.

“Go!” Shay cried.

The three of them began to run for the pod, Coran leaping in first and getting it started as Hunk blasted at the sentries. Shay was almost there when a glowing purple band wrapped around her, tripping her as she was dragged back.

“Shay!” Hunk yelled, stepping forward to grab her.

“Hunk, we have to go NOW!” Coran called out. 

“But Shay–”

“I’ll be fine!” She cried, struggling against the bonds, “Go!”

Hunk hesitated for a moment before lowering his bayard and getting into the pod, “I’ll be back for you! I promise!”

But Hunk didn’t get to hear Shay’s response, because the doors shut and the pod lifted off.

“Hang onto something,” Coran warned as he tiled them upwards, “This will not be a gentle ride.”

Hunk obeyed, gripping the arms of his seat as Coran weaved them in between the metal supports and catwalks, flying upwards.

“It’s gonna be a tight squeeze, we might not make it!” Coran cried, glancing back to see the Galra shooting at them, then up to see pods circling over the entrance to the mining shaft.

“Wait! We could use the boosters!”

“Did you forget about when I said if we used those it would turn the pod into a  _ bomb?! _ I thought you wanted to live?!”

“I adjusted them when I was fixing the pod,” Hunk explained, “So we are significantly less likely to die a horrible fiery death. Either way, it’s our only shot.”

“Quiznak,” Coran cursed, “You’re right. Well, here goes everything!”

Coran slammed his hand down on the booster icon Pidge had displayed on the console and for a moment, nothing happened.

But the next moment, they were breaking the sound barrier.

Both men screamed as they were shot out of the shaft, barrelling out of the atmosphere and in space in no time.

It wasn’t until they passed a nearby moon that they caught their breath, and then they cheered.

“Oh, oh thank God!” Hunk cried, slumping in his seat, “I wasn’t sure if it was gonna work or not.”

“Well I was sure we were going to die, so that’s a pleasant surprise. Now let’s get this crystal back to the castle.”

* * *

The mice found their way into the particle barrier generator room, which still only had one sentry standing guard. They scurried along the rails and leapt at it, causing it to swat at the mice. It clearly wasn’t a very intelligent A.I., as it backed right into one of the purple arcs of lighting, frying it completely. 

The mice cheered to each other before heading to the main console, continuing on their jolly, murderous way. 

They all had an image in their mind of a symbol on the console, projected into their minds by Allura. They quickly scurried onto the console and tapped the icon, causing the particle barrier to go down.

* * *

“They did it!” Allura cheered as she and Keith watched the particle barrier begin to disappear.

“Fucking finally,” Keith complained, his sword at the ready, “Now let’s go kick some ass.”

“And help Pidge!”

“Yeah, that too.”

* * *

A small alarm went off and Sendak grinned, turning to see the Green Paladin standing at the entrance to the bridge.

“Well, so you are capable of making good decisions,” he snarled.

He was immediately proven wrong, however, as Pidge turned tail and ran.

He growled and chased after Pidge, disappearing down a hallway. 

The real, non-hologram Pidge ran into the room, kneeling down by Shiro and Lance.

“Shiro!” Pidge hissed, gently shaking him, “Oh God, please tell me you’re still alive!”

Shiro woke with a groan, raising his head groggily, “Pidge? Is that...you?”

“Yeah, just hold on – we’re gonna get you –”

“Look out!”

But before Pidge could even turn their head, Sendak’s robotic arm was closing around them, yanking them back and holding them up.

“Did you really think such a trick would work on me?” He snarled, bringing Pidge close enough to see his fangs, “I have to say, I am disappointed.”

“Pidge!”

“Stop where you are!”

Allura and Keith stopped towards the entrance of the bridge, watching with fear as Sendak lifted Pidge, his hand bigger than their whole torso.

“One more step,” he warned, gripping Pidge tight enough to hear the armor groaning under the pressure, “and I crush him.”

* * *

Lance sat on the beach, his toes in the surf, watching the sun set over the ocean, turning the sky a brilliant shade of purple.

“Thought I’d find you out here.”

Lance looked up, shocked to see his Uncle Buck standing behind him, watching the sunset as well. He looked just as Lance remembered him – tall, lanky, with curly hair and bright eyes that always seemed to be smiling. Despite the warm weather, he was wearing his classic aviator jacket, the one he had given to Lance.

“What are you doing here?” Lance asked.

“That is an awfully good question,” he said with a chuckle as he sat down beside Lance, “I guess I could ask you the same thing.”

“I’m...I’m home.”

“But something is bothering you, isn’t it?”

“Did Mamì tell you?”

“No, I just know my nephew too well,” Buck joked as he nudged Lance’s shoulder with his own, “So. What’s on your mind?”

“I feel like there’s something I need to do,” Lance began with a sigh, “Something really important. And I feel like my friends are in trouble, and I need to help them.”

“So you should go help them.”

“But I don’t know what’s wrong! I have no idea what I need to do or why they’re in trouble. I don’t even know  _ who  _ is in trouble!”

“I think you do know,” Buck said calmly, “and you’re just choosing to forget. Tell me Lance, do you want to be a Paladin?”

Lance frowned, “Not really, no.” He drew his knees up to his chest, “It’s scary, and I don’t know what’s going to happen or if I’ll ever see my family again. I know I’m helping people but...I just wish it wasn’t me.”

“You can’t change destiny, kid, no matter how much you cry.” Buck smiled at him, “You know you’re dying, right?”

Lance sniffled as he looked back out onto the waves, “Yeah. I figured as much. Can I just...stay here? Just for a little while longer?”

“You can,” Buck admitted with a shrug, “Or you can help your friends. I think they need you.”

Lance blinked, and the violet sky was once again filled with the purple room, Sendak holding Pidge in his robotic arm as Allura and Keith paused.

“Sendak!” Lance said, scrambling to his feet. Suddenly, his beach clothes were gone, replaced by his Paladin armor, “He’s got Pidge! He’s holding him hostage! I gotta do something! But…” he turned to see Buck smiling at him, “I won’t be able to come back here, will I?”

“Who knows? Just because you’re dying doesn’t mean you’re gonna die. You’ve got some time; you just might be able to pull through and come back here for real.”

“But you won’t be here,” Lance realized, “You’re already dead.”

“Yeah,” Buck admitted with a sigh, “but maybe you’ll see me again. Stranger things have happened. Now go on, go help your friends. Be a hero, kid.”

Lance nodded, “Thanks, Uncle Buck.”

Then he ran into the surf, everything awash in a shade of violet.

* * *

_ Shit, shit, shit! _

Keith ground his teeth in frustration. He and Allura were finally able to get in the damn castle, and now Sendak had Pidge as his hostage. Any sudden moves on their part meant Pidge getting crushed in his grip, leaving them useless.

Just as Keith was about to do something incredibly stupid (he wasn’t sure what, yet), a shot rang out in the room, hitting Sendak square in the back. He stumbled, releasing Pidge as he coughed.

Keith looked behind him to see Shiro fighting consciousness, and Lance barely sitting up straight beside him, holding his still-smoking bayard. He managed a smirk and a quiet  _ heh _ before his bayard disappeared and he fell backwards.

Keith decided to worry about how hot that was when he wasn’t in immediate danger.

Instead, Keith used the distraction to charge Sendak and start slicing wildly with his sword. Sendak’s armor looked to be too thick for the shot to have been anywhere near lethal, but it served as a damn good distraction as Allura rushed for the controls.

Sendak snatched his arm out and grabbed Keith, swinging back to throw him across the room, but he had entirely forgotten about Pidge. He was violently reminded of their presence however, when Pidge used their bayard to slash through the purple beam of energy connecting the arm to Sendak.

He howled in pain as the connection was severed and Keith dropped to the floor. He quickly scrambled out of its grip as he and Pidge pushed Sendak back to the circle underneath the crystal.

“Now!” Allura cried.

Keith slashed at Sendak and kicked him, putting him in just the right spot as Allura activated a wall of energy around the area, effectively locking Sendak in. He howled in rage, but as he slammed his fist against the wall, electricity shot up his body and he crumpled to the floor.

Everyone took a moment to breathe, making sure Sendak was out before rushing to check on their teammates.

Pidge used their bayard to cut Shiro’s bonds and free him, helping him stand up. Keith, meanwhile, went to check on Lance.

He was conscious, but only barely. Keith lowered himself and offered Lance a hand, which was taken, but Lance made no movement to get up. So instead, Keith knelt beside him and helped him sit up.

“Hey man,” Keith said gently, “that was pretty badass.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Lance replied with a weak smile, “We make a pretty good team.”

Keith couldn’t help but smile back at him, and okay yeah he was developing a pretty big crush on the guy, but could you blame?

His smile disappeared though, when Lance began to cough violently, blood painting his lips red.

“Huh, that can’t be good.”

“Guys!” Keith yelled, not getting up, “Lance is coughing up blood!”

“Internal bleeding,” Shiro said, now standing up. He leaned on Pidge for support though, and didn’t look too hot himself, “that’s really not good.”

“Neat,” Lance managed, coughing again.

“Get him to the medbay,” Allura commanded, “I’ll stay here – I should be able to get it to work with the Galra crystal, at least until Coran and Hunk come back with a new one. He can’t stay in there long though – who knows what the Galra did to this crystal, and what it did to our system.”

“C’mon,” Keith grunted as he lifted Lance up in a bridal carry, rushing off to the medbay. 

Lance’s vision was blurry, drifting in and out. He felt himself being scooped up and he heard Allura’s voice somewhere as he was carried off.

“Wow, Princess,” he mumbled, “you’re so strong.”

“It’s me, Lance,” Keith said, “Just, just stay with me here.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I feel all numb. I’m tired.”

As Lance’s eyes began to flutter shut, he heard Keith’s voice call, as if from far away, “No, no! Don’t fall asleep.”

Lance mumbled in response, but he didn’t fall asleep, not quite. He found himself in the weird twilight between sleep and consciousness, his mind drifting in and out. Every time he blinked, he found himself in a different position.

_ Blink. _

Running down the hallway as Keith held him.

_ Blink. _

In the medbay, now coloured purple.

_ Blink. _

Lying down on a table as his armor was gently taken off of him by three pairs of hands.

_ Blink. _

Now just in the black under armor, he was gently pushed upright, put in one of the pods.

_ Blink. _

Darkness.


	9. Places To Go, People To Meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya girl is having WAAAAAAAY too much fun with this lmao like I'm loving this
> 
> As always, I post a week early on my patreon, same name :)
> 
> thanks, and happy reading :)

The Paladins and Allura crowded around Lance’s pod the next day, eagerly waiting for it to release him.

The night before, they’d stripped him of his Paladin armour, leaving him in his black under armour. Once they’d put him in and did the same for Shiro, Coran had explained that the suits were designed to maximize energy from the healing pods and fix extensive damage.

Shiro had had a concussion as well as some bruised ribs and a little bit of shock damage, but he was fine after a night in the pod. Lance, on the other hand, was still in the pod well after dinner the next day. 

Despite the countdown that Coran was monitoring on the control centre in the middle of the room, they all were anxious to watch the circle slowly disappear on the front of the pod, watching Lance’s sleeping face through the magic glass.

“This technology really is amazing,” Pidge noted, their face squished up against the blue material as they watched it all.

“I dunno,” Hunk mumbled, nibbling at his thumb, “Does he look pale to you guys? He looks really pale to me.”

“Why can’t we just open it?” Keith asked, reaching a hand out to tap the glass.

“Because it’s not done!” Allura scolded, slapping his hand away, “Just a few more ticks.”

“What is a few ticks gonna do?” Keith snapped, “What difference is it gonna make?!”

“What even is a tick, anyways?” Pidge asked, “You said it was like a measure of time?”

“Yes,” Allura agreed, “It’s a small time slice. What did you call yours?”

“Seconds,” Hunk said, “We’ve got seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years.”

“We’ve got ticks,” Coran spoke up from the control centre, “Sixty ticks in a dobosh, sixty Doboshes in a varga, twenty vargas in a quintant, five quintants in a movement, six movements in a phoeb, and ten phoebs in a deca-phoeb.”

“Huh,” Shiro said, “Ours is sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day, seven days in a week, four weeks in a month, and twelve months in a year.”

“So are they the same?” Pidge asked, “Like, are they the same amount of time? Seconds and ticks?”

“We can check,” Coran said, pulling out a small blue device, “We can time them.” He walked over to the group and they stepped away from the pod, happy to be distracted from the ticking clock by a ticking clock.

Pidge pulled out their phone as everyone gathered in a circle as the two devices changed symbols.

“I can’t tell which one is faster,” Keith said.

“Try starting them at the same time,” Shiro offered.

“Okay,” Coran said as he and Pidge cleared the timers, “One, two, three, go!”

They both started their timers and everyone watched with rapt attention as the symbols changed. It was discovered that seconds were just barely shorter than ticks.

“Whoo, we’re winning!” Hunk cheered.

“Since when is it a competition?” Allura asked.

Just then, Hunk felt a familiar weight on his back as Lance leaned on him for support, his voice drowsy as he spoke.

“Are you guys having a clock party or somethin’?”

“Aw, Lance you ruined –” Hunk began to complain, but then he gasped when he realized what was happening and quickly gathered Lance in a hug, lifting him off the ground, “Oh my god, Lance! You’re alive!”

“Ow, easy on the hugs buddy,” Lance groaned, “I’m hurt all over.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said as he set Lance down, who still leaned on Hunk.

“How’re you feeling?” Shiro asked.

“Tired and sore,” Lance admitted, “Like I just ran a 10-K marathon.”

“Intensive healing from the pods will do that,” Coran said.

Lance frowned, “Did that happen? Everything seems all muddled. Did we go to the beach?”

“We most certainly did not,” Allura said with a small laugh, “How about you get changed and we can talk it over while you eat? Your body needs the energy.”

“Talking...eating…” Lance smirked, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

Everyone collectively groaned.

“Yup, he’s back,” Keith said with a sigh.

“Hunk,” Coran offered, coming to stand on the other side of Lance, “Why don’t you go get Lance’s dinner ready and I’ll take him back to his room?”

“Sounds good,” Hunk said, passing Lance over to Coran, “We’ll meet you guys in the dining hall when you’re ready.”

“Thanks guys,” Lance said as Coran helped him out, Lance’s legs weak.

As they were making their way to Lance’s room, Coran spoke.

“I wanted to thank you by the way. You likely saved my life and it almost cost you yours.”

“You’re welcome but, I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really remember doing it,” Lance admitted, “I remember our conversation, and then Rover, and then an explosion and...It’s really blurry after that.”

“Once you eat and rest, it’ll come back to you,” Coran assured, “You went through some  _ very  _ intensive healing.”

“You guys keep saying that, but I wasn’t in for nearly as long as those Galra prisoners we rescued. Why is that?”

“Oh, a couple of reasons. The castle was still rebooting so its systems were a little slower, the prisoners had a lot of long-term health issues that had to be taken care of, and they had significantly less vitality than you.”

“Vitality?”

“The healing pods use some of your own energy to speed up the healing process,” Coran explained, “The pods do a lot of healing on their own, but the body heals itself in a very good way, so the pods essentially help lay the groundwork and speed the process up. That’s why you’re so exhausted.”

“Huh. Neat. I don’t understand, but cool.”

Coran chuckled as he opened the door for Lance’s room, “It’s very complicated, and unless you’re a doctor, you don’t need to understand it. Here, I’ll let you get changed. I’ll be back in a bit with a chair for you to use.”

“Thanks Coran.”

He nodded as the door shut behind him, leaving Lance alone. He sighed as he stretched a bit, his shoulders popping with the motion. He wondered if he should change into his civilian clothes like the rest of them, but he decided that he didn’t really feel like wearing jeans. So instead, he wore his Blue Paladin pyjamas, as they were comfier and he couldn’t be arsed to be presentable.

As he was reaching for his house robe, he caught sight of his aviator jacket hanging up, patches from Varadero, NASA, the Garrison, and many other places scattered across it.

_ Be a hero, kid. _

Lance still didn’t really know what happened, but he knew  _ for a fact  _ that he had been home and talking to his family. He figured it was some fever dream or his synapses firing away as he died, but it felt really real too. Oddest of all, Lance distinctly remembered talking to his Uncle Buck towards the end, which was really odd as the man had been dead for five years.

Feeling a sudden pang of longing, Lance grabbed his aviator jacket instead of the robe. It was warm and well-worn and exactly what he needed.

When Lance stepped out, he saw Coran waiting beside a floating white chair with blue cushions. He grinned when he saw Lance.

“Here, I thought this might be easier for you to use this,” Coran offered, “You should be back to normal after a good night’s sleep, but I know your entire body is exhausted.”

“Oh, thanks!” Lance sat down in the chair, resting his hands on the armrests, “So it’s like a space wheelchair. How does it work?”

“This blue ball here,” Coran said, “Roll your hand over it in the direction you want, and use the other one to turn.”

“Neat.” Lance rolled it forward and it jolted a bit, but he tested it again and began moving forward, “This is  _ so cool. _ ”

The two of them made their way to the dining room, where Hunk had prepared a wonderful meal that Lance scarfed down as the others explained everything to him: Hunk and Coran’s adventures on the Balmera; Sendak’s invasion; Pidge killing a guy with Rover’s help.

“Wow,” Lance said as he let one of the mice eat a bit of food on his finger, “that all sounds insane, thanks for letting me not die. Sounds like the mice did more than Keith, though.”

“What?” Keith cried. He sat on the table by Lance and he scowled down at him, “I fought Sendak! I helped cut his arm off!”

“Yeah, after I apparently emerged from a coma and  _ shot him _ .”

“Wha – we had a bonding moment!” Keith protested, his voice increasing in pitch, “I cradled you in my arms!”

“Mmm, don’t remember that. Didn’t happen.”

“ _ What?! _ ”

“So,” Lance said, turning his attention to Allura, “What happened to Sendak? Did you guys kill him?”

“No,” Allura said, “He’s being held in a pod in the lower parts of the castle. He’s not conscious and will not be able to escape.”

“Are we sure that’s such a good idea?” Lance asked.

“We might be able to get some information on Zarkon from him,” Shiro explained, “Any information is good information, and we don’t want to lose the chance to gain any.”

“Makes sense. So, what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to leave Arus tomorrow morning,” Coran said, “then we’re heading straight to the Balmera.”

“Yeah, we’ve gotta help Shay and her people,” Hunk agreed, “I promised to go back as soon as we could.”

“Wow, sounds like she made a real big impression on you, buddy,” Lance teased.

Hunk flushed a bit and shook his head, “No, not like that. You guys didn’t see it – they’ve been under Zarkon’s thumb for so long that they didn’t even have a word for ‘freedom’ in their language. We have to help them –  _ this  _ is what being a Paladin of Voltron is about.”

“So we should all turn in,” Shiro suggested, “that way we can leave bright and early.”

Everyone voiced their agreement as they began to get up from the table, but Pidge felt a growing anxiety in their chest and they thought,  _ Hey, no time like the present. _

“Actually,” they spoke up, clearing their throat as everyone stopped and turned to them, “Uh, I kind of wanted to say something.”

“Sure Pidge,” Hunk said with a smile, “What’s up?”

Pidge took a deep breath, adjusting their glasses nervously, “I’m uh...I’m not a boy, I’m a girl. Well, I  _ was  _ a girl – I was assigned female at birth and my real name is Katie Holt, not Pidge Gunderson, but I had to pretend to be a boy to get into the Garrison so I could find info on my family. I guess, um, while I was doing it, I guess I kind of realized that I kinda wasn’t really a girl to begin with, but I’m also not a boy, so I think I’m neither. Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m nonbinary.”

There was a beat of silence before it was broken by Lance and Hunk at the exact same time.

“I knew it! I was right!”

“I knew it! Hunk was right!”

“Wait, what?” Pidge said, taken back a bit, “You guys  _ knew _ ?”

“Well, sort of,” Hunk admitted, “We talked to your roommate back at the Garrison to see what your deal was, and he told us a bit about you, so we figured you were trans. Besides, I read your diary, remember?”

“I have to admit that I’ve known you weren’t a boy for some time,” Allura said, “and I’m glad you felt safe enough to speak to us. But if I may ask for clarification...what is nonbinary? Binary referring to what?”

“Binary referring to the two widely accepted human genders,” Shiro explained, “male and female. Nonbinary typically means an identity that exists outside of the two and uses they/them pronouns.”

“Earth only has two genders?” Coran asked.

“Well, there are many gender orientations,” Shiro said, “but generally there are two sexes; females can get pregnant, males can impregnate.”

“Oh, interesting,” Allura mused, “On Altea, there are three: keille, peille, and leille; those that impregnate, those that can get pregnant, and those that can do both.”

Hunk and Lance glanced at each other, remembering a late night exploring the internet for shits and giggles and ending up with them wishing they’d washed their eyes out with bleach.

“Keith, I’m surprised you didn’t know?” Pidge said, “We’ve known each other for years.”

“I didn’t recognize you at first,” Keith admitted with a shrug, “When you said you were Sam’s kid I figured out who you were, but I wasn’t sure what was going on so I just left it.”

“Noted and appreciated. Well, I said my part, so unless anyone else has some big announcement or is coming out, I’m ready to go to bed.”

The group voiced their assent and began to trickle off. Shiro noticed Keith take a last look at Hunk and Lance who were chatting to each other. 

“You’ll get another bonding moment,” Shiro assured, “And Coran said it’ll all come back to him once he gets a good night’s sleep anyways.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Shiro just chuckled and rolled his eyes. 

* * *

Commander Prorok knelt before Zarkon’s throne, Haggar standing beside him as always.

“Why are you here, Prorok?” Zarkon growled.

“I appreciate your audience, Emperor Zarkon,” Prorok said, his head bowed, “and I wish to suggest movements in regards to Voltron, and how we should proceed.”

“Oh?” Zarkon sneered, “And what do you suggest?”

“Sendak has failed, we know that Voltron is strong,” Prorok began, “I suggest we strike them down before they can grow stronger. I believe that it is in our best interests to move several fleets to their last known location, perhaps even the main fleet.”

“Sire,” Haggar interjected, “We cannot move the fleet to chase after Voltron. The Komar Project is finally ready after all these years, and it could give us unimaginable amounts of quintessence.”

“We do not have time for your magics, witch!” Prorok snapped, raising his head, “We must strike while we have the chance!”

“Our ships will not stand against Voltron,” Haggar replied, “not as they are now. We need more power, more quintessence.”

“Surely they cannot stand against our best fleets!”

Zarkon slamming his hand down on his throne silenced them, the sound reverberating through the room as Prorok lowered his head again.

“No one understands the power of Voltron like I do,” Zarkon declared, “though Haggar understands quintessence. She is right, and she has my trust. We must do the experiment and proceed with that. Dismissed, Prorok.”

Biting his tongue, Prorok stood and saluted Zarkon before exiting the throne room.

His Lieutenant Thace was standing at attention by the door, waiting patiently.

“Unbelievable!” Prorok complained as he and Thace made their way back to where their ship was docked, “That witch has snared Zarkon’s attention and it is made even worse now that Voltron has returned. He no longer cares about the growth of the empire – merely quintessence! He is  _ convinced  _ it will be our saviour.”

“So what shall we do, sir?” Thace prompted politely.

“Voltron is weak,” Prorok declared, “Send out a signal for any pirates or runaway scum between Arus and Balmera X-95-Vox: a million GACs will be given to whomever provides useful information on Voltron.  _ Two  _ million and a full pardon if they actually bring it to me.”

“Yes, sir. But if I may, why that Balmera?”

“I trained with the commander of that sector. He told me that an unidentified pod crashed on their planet, then its passengers hid for several days before being captured, breaking out, and stealing a crystal as they left.”

“But that could have been anyone, sir,” Thace pointed out, “It’s not the first time someone has stolen a crystal from a Balmera.”

“It’s the first time someone has attempted and succeeded in stealing a Battleship Class crystal, and I know it is no coincidence that in the very next sector, Sendak launched an attack on Voltron’s base on Arus. If the stories about Voltron being a bringer of peace are true, then they’ll likely return to the Balmera to free it. And we will be waiting.”

* * *

The next day, everyone met on the bridge for the launch. Allura had summoned the seats for her, Coran, and the Paladins from hidden trap doors.

Coran’s was at the helm, where all of the manual controls were. Allura’s was in the centre of the room, with her hand rests adjusting to allow her to sit. The Paladins’ were spread around the room in Voltron’s pentagon formation, with Shiro at the head in between Coran and Allura, Keith and Pidge diagonally behind him, and then Hunk and Lance behind them.

Hunk and Lance were the last ones to enter, each of them dressed in their civilian clothes.

“We really should race those chairs,” Lance was saying, “They’re so easy to steer and so much fun!”

“We should!” Hunk agreed, “Get our armor on – ooh! We should see if we can find some sticks and joust with them!”

“Now you’re getting it!”

“Lance, good to see you up and about,” Shiro said as he greeted the two, “How’re you feeling?”

“Great!” Lance chirped, “Coran was right, I passed out the second I hit the pillow and when I woke up, I felt all better!”

“So you remember everything now?” Pidge asked.

“Well, as much as I was  _ awake  _ to remember. I was passed out for most of the exciting stuff.”

“Do you remember anything after?” Keith prompted hopefully.

“Mmm, not really. I do remember waking up and shooting Sendak, but everything after that is still blurry.”

“That’s understandable, your head was hit pretty hard,” Shiro said, “So it’s good to see you’re feeling like yourself again.”

“So are we alright to prepare to take off?” Allura asked.

“Yes ma’am!” Lance declared with a mock salute as everyone found their seats. 

As Allura sat in her seat and rested her hands on the controls, the black screens around them flickered, turning into windows that allowed them to view Arus. The ship’s quiet hum increased a bit as everything began to glow and Coran began to run through the diagnostics, adjusting the settings.

“Activating the interlock,” Coran announced, “Dynotherms are connected. Mega-thrusters are a go. We are ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark Princess.”

“Firing main engines for launch,” Allura declared. She closed her eyes and a moment later, the entire ship began to shake as the four pillars of the castles began firing, pulling in closer to the castle as it slowly lifted them out of the ground, the cliff around the castle beginning to fall away. 

The Arusians from the nearby village watched in awe as the castle began to lift into the air, shaking the very ground beneath them. It soon launched into the sky, entering the atmosphere and passing Arus’s moons, disappearing into space.

Once they finished the launch sequence and found a steady speed, Allura turned to them with a smile.

“You may get out of your seats now, if you wish.”

The Paladins quickly undid their seatbelts and stood up, rushing over to the windows.

“This is so cool!” Hunk gushed.

“That was the smoothest and fastest take-off I’ve ever experienced,” Shiro mused, looking out onto the stars.

“Hey, aren’t we sideways right now?” Lance noticed, “Like, the ship is basically turned on its side, right? How come we aren’t all on the floor, since the gravity is obviously working?”

“The castle’s centre of gravity is different,” Pidge explained as they adjusted their glasses, “It’s actually pretty flexible, so it moves with the castle.”

“Very good, Pidge!” Coran said, “You’re right! Our gravity tilts so that we’re always being pulled in the same direction, relative to the castle.”

“Neat!” Lance said.

“So how much longer until we get to the Balmera?” Hunk asked, “It took us almost a day to get there last time!”

“Oh, we’ll be there in a matter of vargas,” Coran assured, “We’re not going to waste energy on a wormhole, but we’ll be there in about...eight vargas.”

“So we have time to come up with a plan,” Hunk said, “What should we do? Should we go in and blast everything? Or land and address them like ‘This is Voltron, turn yourselves in’, and maybe they’ll surrender?”

“Hunk, buddy, you need to calm down,” Lance said, “And we go in blasting, obviously.”

“You seem like you’re excited to be on our first rescue mission,” Keith noted, “Glad to see you taking this seriously.”

“Or maybe he’s just excited to see his  _ girlfriend _ ,” Pidge teased, smirking at Hunk.

“ _ Oooh, _ ” Lance added, leaning up against Hunk, “Hunk’s gonna get the girl!” Then he made kissy faces, but Hunk just shoved him away playfully.

“She’s not my girlfriend! She is just a rock that I met and admire very much.”

“So is she pretty?” Pidge asked.

“Well, she’s pretty butch, but I think that she was actually really – no!” He pointed at Pidge and Lance, who were snickering, “Entrapment! Baiting! Objection!” 

The three of them laughed but were quickly interrupted by a sudden, sharp pinging noise.

“What is that?” Shiro asked.

“Are we being attacked again?” Keith wondered, tensing up.

“No, no,” Coran assured, pulling up a hologram of a message, “It’s just the castle picking up a nearby distress signal.”

“It looks like it’s coming from a nearby dwarf planet,” Allura noted, “The message says that their ship has broken down and they’re running low on supplies. We have to help them.”

“Okay, but we should help them after the Balmerans!” Hunk said, “I promised Shay I’d come back to help her, and I’ve already been gone for too long!”

“Hunk, Shay will be alright if we stop for a varga or two. But it’s the Paladin code to help those that need it.”

“C’mon Hunk, it’ll be fun,” Lance tried, slinging an arm around Hunk’s shoulder, “It’s like we’re space cops on space patrol! Oh, Coran! Do we have a siren we can blast? That would be  _ awesome _ !”

“Um, no,” Coran said, “but we do have a speaker. I could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them once we got close.”

“Perfect!” Lance raised a hand to his mouth as he did his best impression of a siren, calling out, “ **_BraaAA–_ ** ”

But his beautiful impression was cut short by Shiro slapping his metal hand over Lance’s mouth.

“Nope. Not doing that.”

* * *

  


The three sat on crates round their fire, the shadows growing longer as the sun began to set.

“Do you really think this is gonna work?” She asked.

“Worth a shot,” he replied with a shrug, “Besides, there are worse places to hang out than an uninhabited terran planet.”

Suddenly, a roaring reached their ears and they looked up as a massive white ship began to approach, wind blasting them as it entered the atmosphere.

“What kind of ship is that?” She wondered.

“Doesn’t look Galra,” he said, “so automatically a good sign.”

“ _ Attention!” _ A feminine voice in a lilting accent called out, broadcast from the castle, “ _ This is Princess Allura of Altea. We are here to assist you.” _

“Well what do you know,” he said as the two of them stood, their robot beeping with interest, “It did work.”

“They only answered our signal,” she reminded him, “there’s still a lot that can go wrong.”

“Hmm. Nice ship though.”

She just rolled her eyes.

* * *

“Coran and I will stay aboard the ship,” Allura said as they landed, “to clear out the rest of the Galra crystal, and for security. This will also be a good test for you as Paladins. And don’t worry, we’ll be keeping an eye out if anything goes wrong.”

“Sounds good, Princess,” Shiro said, putting his helmet on, “Let’s go check it out.”

On the way to the dwarf planet, the five of them had changed into their armor. They headed to the shuttle pod that lowered down onto the dwarf planet, opening to reveal two aliens and a droid.

“Hello,” Shiro greeted as they stepped out and approached the three, “My name is Shiro, I’m the Black Paladin of Voltron. This is my team, and we came to help you.”

“I’m Rolo,” the purple alien said with an easy smile, “this is Nyma, and our droid, Beezer.”

“Hey,” Nyma said with a small wave and a smile, and Beezer beeped cheerfully.

Now, when Lance first began to fully appreciate the fact that they were in space and it was likely going to be a  _ long  _ time before he saw another human female, he realized he had to figure out where he stood on alien women. Allura was an easy answer, because she had a mostly humanoid appearance, offset only by her pointed ears, glowing markings, and strange-coloured eyes. But where was Lance going to draw the line?

As he saw Nyma though, who looked decidedly inhuman with three wide fingers, yellow and white skin, and entirely purple eyes, Lance realized he didn’t really care about the difference between humans and aliens. If it walked on two legs and would flirt with him, then it was worth a shot.

So Lance wasted no time in giving Nyma a winning smile and kissing her hand with a, “Hey. The name’s Lance.”

Nyma actually giggled, her cheeks turning a deeper yellow. When Rolo raised an eyebrow at her, she shot him a sharp look.

Pidge meanwhile, was practically  _ vibrating _ , looking at Beezer with stars in their eyes.

Rolo obviously noticed, because he chuckled a bit, “You can say hi. Beezer won’t bite!”

Pidge looked up at Rolo with their wide owl eyes, “Really?”

“Sure!”

Pidge squeaked excitedly as they rushed over to Beezer, poking it and playing with it, gushing to themselves about the technology.

Shiro just sighed and turned back to Rolo, “So what happened with your ship? Your message said your ship broke down.”

“Yeah,” Rolo admitted, crossing his arms as he looked up at the large, rectangular ship, “We were on the run from the Galra, think we were hit. We managed to ditch them and limped over to this planet about a movement ago. We’re really running low on supplies and we were starting to think the worst, so it’s really good y’all came when you did.”

“We’re glad to help!” Keith declared, perhaps a bit loudly. Shiro cast him a knowing glance, but Keith ignored him.

“Yeah well, we really appreciate it. Not too many folks that wanna tangle with people on the run from the Galra.”

“Are y’all freedom fighters?” Keith asked.

Rolo chuckled a bit dryly, “I’d hardly call us that. Zarkon isn’t exactly quaking in his boots thinkin’ about us, but we steal from a Galra base or two. Do what we can. Mostly we just blow some shit up.”

“Well, you won’t be fighting alone anymore,” Shiro said, “You’ve got Voltron on your side now.”

“Voltron, huh?” Rolo asked. He glanced back at Pidge (who was sitting on Beezer and playing with its ear flaps) and Lance (who was obviously flirting with Nyma), “So, uh, you guys are really Voltron?”

“I’m guessing you haven’t heard of us?” Shiro offered.

“Oh no, we have!” Rolo assured, “Pretty much every planet in the universe has some kind of Voltron legend, passed down through the years. We know the stories, I dunno if I believe ‘em is all.”

“So you think we’re a little crazy, huh?” Keith realized.

“Maybe. But hey, I’ll take all the help I can get. And I mean, Voltron sure  _ sounds  _ impressive. I would love to be proved wrong and see it. Him? Them? I’m honestly not even sure what it is, the stories are so old and convoluted.”

Hunk, who had been slowly losing his patience, threw his hands up in frustration, “Ugh! We don’t have time for this! Let’s just fix the damn ship so we can go and save Shay.”

“Fair enough,” Rolo said, then he walked to his ship, gesturing for the others to follow. With a grunt, he opened up a compartment to reveal a series of gears and pipes and other things that made a spaceship work.

“The whole flaxum system is shot,” he explained, “I fixed as much as I can, but the reality is that we just don’t have the spare parts we need. Though, I imagine you might have some stuff we could use in that giant castle of yours.”

“Hunk is our resident mechanic,” Shiro said, “He can help you out, and I’m sure if you give him a list of materials, we can have Coran and Allura help us find them.”

“Coran and Allura?” Rolo echoed, “Didn’t the voice say it was Princess Allura? I thought it was just the name of the ship.”

“The ship’s named the Castle of Lions,” Keith said, “Coran and Allura are Altean – they decided to stay on board the ship to do some last-minute touch-ups and stuff.”

“Alteans? Really?” Rolo said, “Now  _ this _ I oughtta see.”

“Ooh, good idea!” Lance spoke up, Nyma standing close to him, “We should give you guys a tour!”

“No!” Hunk snapped, “No one is going inside the castle!”

“Hunk!” Lance and Keith both complained.

“You don’t gotta be rude!” Keith said.

“Yeah, come  _ on  _ man!” Lance protested, “I thought we were bros!” Then he glanced at Nyma in a way that went over everyone’s heads, but to Hunk it was very clear that he was saying  _ I have a shot with a really hot alien and you are totally cock-blocking me. _

“Oh, I’m sorry! Did you forget what happened last time we let people into the castle? It  _ blew up _ !” He pointed at Lance accusingly, “Are you forgetting that you spent four days in a coma?! You almost drowned on your own blood, Lance!”

“Hunk has a point,” Shiro interjected, “it’s safer for everyone if we don’t let you into the castle. Sorry, nothing personal.”

“Hey, I get it,” Rolo said easily, then he went over to Beezer, who produced a slip of paper with a list of items, “Beezer took note of everything we need.”

“I’ll get it,” Hunk said, taking the list and heading back to the shuttlepod.

* * *

While Hunk was gathering parts, the others sat around the fire, listening to Rolo and Nyma tell their stories while Pidge and Beezer ran round the ship.

“My planet was colonized by the Galra about eight deca-phoebs ago,” Nyma said, “I’ve been on my own since I was a kid, so not much changed when I was taken by the Galra. One of the commanders took a liking to me and took me for a serving girl. One quintant he got a little grabby, so I chopped his hand off. Rolo and I were both his servants, so we escaped together about two deca-phoebs ago, picked up Beezer along the way.”

“You were servants?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, we were lucky,” Rolo scoffed, “My grandma was claimed as a bride by some old Galra general years ago. He took care of my family, but he died when I was a kid, so I was sold off to this commander. Nyma and I managed to escape, but not before he got a chunk of me.” Rolo lifted up his left pant leg to reveal a metal prosthetic, rapping on it with his knuckles.

“I can certainly relate to that,” Shiro admitted darkly, looking down at his own prosthetic, “I was in the gladiator ring, and the Druids experimented on me. Took my arm.”

“Wait a tick,” Nyma said, leaning forward, “You wouldn’t happen to be the Champion, would you?”

Shiro smiled sheepishly, “I’m surprised you’ve heard of me, all the way out here.”

“You serious?” Rolo scoffed, “All everyone could talk about was this Champion from a far-off planet who defeated Myzax like it was nothing. It’s good to see you’ve escaped too, though it’s too bad you’re still out here in space.”

“I did make it home, but I was only on Earth for a little while before we all ended up back in space as Paladins of Voltron. So you grew up around the Galra higher-ups?”

“Yup,” Rolo said.

“So what’s with the accent?” Lance asked, “And how come Nyma doesn’t have one?”

“We grew up in some pretty different places,” Nyma explained, “and Rolo was more of a general labourer while I was specifically a house servant, so we learned to talk differently.”

“I actually come from a farming planet, and when I was shipped off, I never really dropped the accent. Funny though, ‘cuz Keith sounds the same.”

“Oh, I’m just from Texas.”

“What about you?” Nyma asked, “Your accent is different too. The other three sound the same, but you and Keith sound different.”

“It’s because I’m speaking Spanish and it’s just getting translated to sound like whatever you guys speak. And besides, the Cuban accent is just  _ so  _ pretty.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and looked back over to see Keith sitting beside Rolo, hanging onto his every word with a small smile. 

_ God, I miss my husband. _

As Shiro was running his thumb over the ridge where his ring sat underneath his glove, the shuttlepod came back down and Hunk came out with a floating cart filled with spare parts.

“Alright, these parts should fit,” he declared as he rolled up, “Come and get it.”

“Oh, this is perfect!” Rolo said as he stood up and began to inspect the pieces, “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“So you must know a lot about the Galra Empire, right?” Shiro prompted as he and Keith stood by Rolo, “Since you grew up in it. Is there anything you can tell us that might be useful?”

“Well, I can tell you that Zarkon’s main ship sits at the centre of his empire, and he mostly calls the shots from there. His soldiers do all of his dirty work, and they’re given different sections and planets to take care of. This particular area of space is under the care of a real nasty bugger named Sendak. I’m amazed he didn’t find us first – he’s the one we ran away from.”

“Oh yeah,” Keith said with a cocky sort of smirk, “that’s because he’s trapped in our castle right now.”

“You serious?” Rolo asked, “You went up against Sendak and  _ won _ ? How many of your people died?”

“No one,” Shiro said proudly, “We suffered some physical damages and Lance almost died, but we had no casualties on our side.”

“And we fought him  _ twice _ ,” Keith added.

“Well, you’ve certainly earned my respect and my jealousy. You sure I can’t come into the castle, just to pay Sendak a visit?”

“Sorry, no,” Shiro said firmly, “He’s unconscious in a pod anyways.”

“I cut his arm off,” Keith announced, deciding that Rolo had to be absolutely made aware of this accomplishment.

Unfortunately, Pidge zoomed by on Beezer at that moment, calling out, “Lies! I was the one who actually cut it off!”

“Yeah, well I helped!” Keith snapped, “I was the one fighting him with my sword!”

“And I shot him!” Lance interjected, shouting over from where he still sat with Nyma by the fire.

“Okay, we were all very badass!” Hunk interrupted, “Now how about we let Rolo work so we can get going?”

“You got somewhere you need to be?” Rolo asked as he looked through a tube.

“A hero named Shay saved me,” Hunk explained without too much patience, “which allowed me to save my friends, and now you. But she was captured by some prison guards, and I promised to go back and free her and her people, and we’re running out of time!”

“Hey, I gotchu,” Rolo said with a shrug, “Heroes need to be heroes. Hey Keith, you wanna help me with some of these!”

“Sure!” Keith replied, sounding perhaps just a little bit too eager as he and Rolo went over to the damaged compartment. 

Once they were out of earshot, Shiro turned to Hunk, “Look, Hunk, I know you’re worried about Shay and we will get going soon, I promise. But Rolo and Nyma could have some really valuable information about our enemy, especially since we know so little. We won’t be long, but we need to see what we can learn.”

Hunk sighed, “Alright, fine. But I don’t trust them. Something isn’t right about this.”

Rolo then approached the two, smiling easily, “Hey, sorry to bug, but do you have a thermal pipe, uh, about yay big?”

Hunk groaned, “I’ll see if I can find one,” then he turned back to go to the castle.

“So, Rolo,” Shiro said, “do you know of any freedom fighters, or maybe some rebel groups? Any kind of organized force against the Galra?”

“Nah, not really. I’m sure there’s some resistance somewhere, but I haven’t heard anything about it. Most of the things I hear about are just folks like us, people who got lucky enough to escape the Galra.”

“Well, we’re going to change that,” Keith said, “We’re already starting a Coalition.”

“That’s great and all, but y’all really don’t know what you’re up against.”

Shiro laughed dryly, “My right arm and PTSD would beg to differ.”

Meanwhile, back at the fire, Lance was excitedly answering any question Nyma had about Voltron, and there were a  _ lot. _

“So you only have five pilots?”

“Well, yeah. Allura says that it’s based on this sacred, quintessential bond, that the soul of the Paladin has to match the soul of the Lion.”

“Okay, so I’m confused.”

“Oh don’t worry, me too. I just kind of go along and pretend like I know what I’m doing. It usually works.”

Nyma laughed, “No, I mean about your ships. Why are they called Lions?”

“Well, they’re shaped like Lions. Y’know, like giant cats?”

Nyma frowned, “So...they’re spaceships...shaped like  _ animals _ ? Why?”

“No clue,” Lance admitted with a shrug, “But they sure are fun to fly.”

“I’m still confused, but they sound amazing. I wish I could see one up close.”

“Man, I  _ really  _ want to give you a tour of the castle,” Lance said with a sigh, “I dunno what Hunk is so stressed about – if you guys wanted to kill us, you would’ve already.”

“Hunk, is he the one in charge?”

Lance scoffed, “What?  _ Nah,  _ Hunk crumbles under pressure. Shiro’s our leader.”

“So why are you listening to Hunk?”

Lance opened his mouth to say that he was doing  _ no such thing,  _ and really, Hunk was the one that listened to  _ him. _ But then he saw the spark in Nyma’s eye, her seemingly innocent face betrayed by her slight leaning in, her hand just brushing Lance’s.

So instead he laughed and said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with me just to get a tour of the castle.”

For a brief moment, she hesitated, but then she giggled, “You really think so?”

“Oh definitely. Works in your favour though, because I haven’t had anyone to flirt with in – I dunno, like, a month?” Lance stood and offered his hand to Nyma, “So, you want a tour?”

She grinned as she accepted his hand and the two laughed as they caught up to Hunk in the shuttlepod. He glared at Lance, who only beamed back.

“Really, dude?”

“We’ll be quick, I promise!”

“Uh-huh. Whatever. Nobody seems to be in any sort of rush.”

“Hey man,” Lance said, laying a hand on Hunk’s shoulder, his smile softening, “We all wanna save Shay, don’t get me wrong. But I literally almost  _ died _ a couple of days ago. A couple of hours to take a breather with some cool aliens is owed, don’t you think?”

Hunk sighed, “Yeah, I guess. I’m just really worried about her, man.”

“Were there other people around?” Nyma asked.

The other two turned to look at her.

“What?” Hunk asked.

“You said you promised to go back for her, right?” Nyma said, “Were there Galra around?”

“Um, yeah. She was captured by them right as we flew away, and her brother was there too.”

“Right. So they know you’re coming. They’ll likely keep her alive and use her as bait. It’s not ideal, but at least she’ll be alive, right?”

“That...that actually makes me feel better,” Hunk admitted as the shuttlepod docked in the bay, “Thanks, Nyma.”

“Of course.”

The three of them stepped out, and Hunk grabbed Lance’s hand as they went into the hallway, effectively stopping him.

“Dude, what?”

“Just be careful, alright?”

Lance rolled his eyes, “C’mon Hunk. You’re being paranoid.”

“No! Well, that too, but just don’t get anyone pregnant.”

Lance laughed and clapped his arm, “Will do, Hunk. See you in a bit.”

They let go and Lance walked over to Nyma, throwing an arm around her shoulders, the two of them joking around as Hunk went to go find a thermal pipe, though he couldn’t imagine what Rolo needed it for.

Lance then took Nyma on a tour of the castle, showing her where they trained, where they ate, where they held the party, even the bridge. 

“And  _ this  _ is where I was almost killed by a bomb and then emerged from a coma to shoot Sendak and save the day!” Lance declared.

“Wow,” Nyma mused, looking around at the insane high-tech ship, “By the way, where are the other two? The Alteans?”

“I’m surprised Coran isn’t in here, honestly,” Lance admitted, “Maybe he went to get some food or something.”

“So where are these Lions?”

“Oh, they’re stored in the peaks of the ships, they just fly out from there.”

“Wouldn’t it take a long time to get to them?” She asked.

Lance grinned, “Not if you’ve got a shortcut. C’mon!”

He grabbed her hand and led her to the Blue Lion’s elevator. Once they stepped inside, it started to go down and soon opened onto the zipline. Lance grabbed onto it and Nyma wrapped her arms around his chest.

“Hold on tight!” He warned as he kicked off, and the zipline sped off, the two of them laughing the entire way to the speeder. 

The speeder was really only made for one person, so Nyma found the solution to the lack of space by sitting in Lance’s lap.

She stared up in awe as they approached the giant Lion, gasping softly at it. Once they got into the Lion, she hopped off his lap, looking around the Lion’s bay.

“This ship is huge!” She said.

Lance laughed, “Oh man, you’re gonna  _ love  _ this!”

He grabbed her hand and took her up the ramp into Blue’s head, which lit up the moment they stepped through, her eyes opening to show the hangar around them. Lance took a seat and the chair pulled forward, the controls coming to life expectantly.

“This is crazy!” She gushed, looking over at the controls, “They’re all holograms! And it doesn’t look like there are hardly any labels. How do you know what’s what?”

Lance shrugged, “You just know, I guess. It’s weird because the Lion almost pilots itself, and it just  _ tells  _ you what you need to do.”

“It can speak?” Nyma asked, leaning over the back of the chair.

“No, it just sort of puts thoughts and ideas in my head. I’m still trying to get used to it, honestly.”

“So no one else but you can pilot this?”

“Yup,” Lance said with a grin, patting Blue’s console affectionately, “We’ve got that soul bond.”

“That’s amazing,” she said, leaning down, running one of her hands along his chest plate, “Why don’t you take me for a ride?”

Lance laughed nervously, “Um, I mean – I would  _ love  _ to, but I don’t really, I mean, I didn’t exactly bring anything with me from Earth.”

“What do you mean?”

Lance gestured vaguely, feeling his face burn embarrassingly, “Y’know...I don’t have any... _ protection _ ?”

“But you’re in a warship,” she said, sounding confused, “and wearing armor – what more protection could you need for a small flight around the planet?”

“You – oh, I thought you meant – nevermind.”

“So can we?” She asked eagerly.

“Um, I dunno,” Lance admitted with a sigh, “I think we should probably be getting back to the others. We should be leaving soon anyways.”

“I guess,” Nyma said, her sigh a little more dramatic than Lance’s, “I wonder if Shiro will give me a ride, or maybe Keith.”

“You know what?” Lance decided leaning forward and beginning to activate his lion, “What’s the point in having a Lion if you can’t enjoy it? Giddy up, Blue!”

Nyma grabbed onto the chair as he thrust forward, the Blue Lion shooting out of its hangar and flying over the campsite.

Down below, they all heard the noise of the Lion leaving the ship. Hunk looked up from his work and lifted his goggles, sighing.

“Dammit, Lance.”

“Aw, let them have their fun,” Rolo said easily, lying on his back in the compartment as he put some pieces together, “By the time they get back, we’ll be up and running in no time. Keith, you wanna hand me that pipe?”

“Sure.”

Hunk rolled his eyes when he saw Keith’s eager eyes. He knew Lance was a terrible flirt, but he was shocked that Keith was...well, he certainly wasn’t flirting, but his affection was obvious.

_ Goddammit, why do I have to be surrounded by the biggest flirt and most useless gay in the galaxy?! _

* * *

Zarkon’s main fleet appeared over a large, terrestrial planet.

Their information had told them that while it was inhabited, it held no sentient life. Merely a planet untouched by sentience and its vices, a true embodiment of peace.

The perfect subject for their experiment.

His main ship hovered over the planet, just inside the atmosphere. Four Druids stood on floating platforms over the drop, the centre platform containing a massive empty tube that was connected to each of the platforms. On Haggar’s command, they began their ritual, purple lighting arcing between them. Haggar stood above them all on a hovering balcony in the centre, gathering their energy before casting it down to the planet below.

The pure energy hit the planet like a lightning strike, but it remained, grounded to the planet and Haggar. Slowly, pure quintessence was pulled up around it, circling like a tornado, sparkling mist in every colour possible, shimmering as it was drawn up to the ship. It was then deposited into the tube, which quickly began to fill up.

Once it had, they stopped their ceremony, the Druids catching their breath, exhausted by the ceremony. The tube glowed in a myriad of swirling colours and the planet below them was an empty husk.

“A success, my Emperor,” Haggar said, “Pure quintessence.”

“Excellent,” Zarkon rumbled, standing just behind Haggar, “This is revolutionary, for we no longer need to concern ourselves with colonizing and mining quintessence when we can merely take it. All that needs doing is hunting Voltron down.”

* * *

Nyma and Lance were laughing as they soared over the planet, circling and pouncing and running and just having  _ fun. _

“There!” Nyma said, pointing to a purple body of water, “That’s a mineral spring! If you fly low, the mist will create a rainbow!”

“Roger that!” Lance dipped Blue low to fly over it, and sure enough, the mist around them turned to a thousand colours, rainbows dancing before him, “This is so cool! Man, you’re so smart.”

Nyma giggled in response and deftly pressed her bracelet, which began to light up pink. Then she pointed over Lance’s shoulder, “Oh, see that island? Touch down over there!”

“Sure thing!”

* * *

Back at the base, Rolo felt a slight vibration on his wrist and glanced at it, seeing the bracelet flashing. He tapped it in response and slid out from under the machinery, slamming the compartment shut.

“I think that just about does it. I’m gonna take ‘er for a quick test flight.”

“You need a co-pilot?” Keith offered.

“Nah, Beezer’s my co-pilot. Beezer! We’ll just be a tick!”

Then Rolo and Beezer rushed into their ship. In a moment, they were lifting off and disappearing over the nearby horizon.

“Well that was weird,” Pidge said.

“That’s suspicious,” Hunk agreed.

* * *

“Wanna see how fast I can climb this weird tree?”

Nyma giggled and Lance grinned. Honestly, since his breakup, he hadn’t been too much in the mood for flirting and Allura certainly hadn’t helped, since she constantly shut him down. In all honesty, it was nice to flirt  _ with _ , rather than just flirt  _ at. _

“Here, gimme your hand. I want to show you something.”

“Sure,” Lance said, his heart doing a little jazz routine in his chest as he offered Nyma his hand. She smiled sweetly at him before suddenly slamming a cuff on his wrist, threw him up against the weird tree, then closed the other cuff on his other wrist, a thing purple band of electricity wrapping around the trunk and connecting the two cuffs. Lance tugged at them, but it only allowed a couple of centimetres leeway.

“So this is a bit unexpected,” Lance said, trying to keep his voice even, “But y’know, I could be into it.”

Nyma looked genuinely amused, “Really? That’s almost tempting.”

“Almost?”  
Then the sound of an approaching ship reached their ears and Lance saw their ship appear.

“Okay,” he said, tugging at the cuffs again as a tractor beam was activated, pulling Blue up into the ship, “I am no longer into this. Nyma, what’s going on?!”  
“You hyped up being a Paladin so much,” she said as she grabbed onto a rope ladder lowered down to her, hooking her foot in, “I thought I might give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe we’ll bond even better than you ever did. See you on the far side!”

Then she saluted him mockingly as she was lifted up, and the ship blasted away. 

As soon as they were gone, the reality of the situation came crashing down around him and Lance sighed heavily. Then he glanced around him – he had been holding his helmet when Nyma chained him to the tree, so he must have dropped it nearby – there! He bent down and stretched his leg out, but it was just out of reach. 

“Quiznak.”

He lowered himself down so he was lying on the ground, as far as the tree would let him get. He stretched out his legs, and he felt his toes  _ just  _ brush his helmet.

“C’mon, c’mon,” he grumbled, stretching as far as he could, “Yoga, don’t fail me now. C’mon… aha!”

His toe hooked under the top of his helmet and he lifted it up, letting his helmet drop by his head.

“Guys!” Lance yelled into his helmet, “Guys, come in!”

* * *

“They’ve been a while, huh?” Keith said, surveying the sky, now dark.

“Something isn’t right,” Hunk grumbled, pacing back and forth, “I just  _ know  _ it!”

“ _ Guys! _ ”

They all froze as Lance’s voice carried through their helmets, “ _ Guys, come in! _ ”

“Lance!” Shiro replied, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“ _ Well, I’m fine, mostly just a bruised ego because um...I may or may not...be tied to a tree right now. _ ”

“Ugh, Lance,” Pidge complained.

“Why are you tied to a tree?” Shiro asked.

“ _ Nyma tricked me.” _

“I knew it!” Hunk shouted, vindicated.

“Well, what happened? Why did she tie you to a tree?”

“ _ To steal the Blue Lion _ .”

“I KNEW it!”

“Where are they now?” Keith asked.

“ _ Um, I dunno, space? I’m tied to a tree I didn’t exactly chart their course!” _

“I  **KNEW IIIIT!”**

**“** Everyone, get to your Lions!” Shiro commanded and everyone rushed to the castle.

As they were getting to their Lions, Hunk was rambling, talking about how he knew what was going on from the beginning.

“I just had a massive gut feeling, but it was the technical stuff too. The thermal pipe was cracked but none of the hardware around it was damaged.”

“Okay, Hunk, we get it,” Pidge sighed.

“I mean, if the thermal pipe is damaged, then  _ hello,  _ the entire assembly should look like a burnt marshmallow!”

“We get it,” Keith snapped.

“If it was the flaxum system too, we should’ve had to replace the whole undercarriage!”

“We get it!” Everyone yelled at Hunk. He grumbled, but he didn’t say anything else.

Once out of the atmosphere, Rolo called up Commander Prorok.

“Do you have news of Voltron?” His second-in-command asked.

“We’ve got one better,” Rolo said, watching his words, “We’ve got the Blue Lion.”

“Do you?” Lieutenant Thace asked with a raised brow, “How interesting.”

“About the reward though,” Rolo said, sitting forward in his seat, “We didn’t get  _ all  _ of Voltron, but we got a whole Lion. I expect the two million and the full pardon.”

“The pardon?” Thace echoed.

“My friends and I are traders, see? And...some stolen Galra merchandise may have ended up in our possession. We also may not have followed the proper procedures for quitting our jobs under Sendak, though I understand he’s out of commission.”

“You would be correct. Well, you only have one Lion, but I can give you one million GAC as well as a full pardon. I will do nothing else, and both will be granted to you upon the acquisition of the Blue Lion.”

Rolo shrugged, “I can work with that. Where can we meet?”

“I’m sending coordinates. I expect to meet you soon.”

“Sounds good.”

The call ended and Rolo and Nyma both let out a sigh of relief.

“It’ll finally be nice to get the Galra off our asses,” Nyma said.

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine Sendak coming after us if they’ve got him trapped in their castle,” Rolo replied, “Y’know, I almost feel bad for them. They seemed like nice folks, and you seemed to like that blue one a lot.”

Nyma scoffed, “Oh please, I was just using him. He’s obviously the weak link.”

“Oh yeah? That why you were blushin’ when he kissed your hand? I ain’t ever seen anyone do that before, it was cute.”

“It was annoying. And if you like them that much, you can just turn yourself in – I’d rather not serve a life sentence for stealing from the Galra and cutting off a Commander’s hand.”

“Y’know, they’re not  _ that  _ nice.”

* * *

Thace glanced around him. Thankfully, only a couple of droids and a sentry was in the communication room. If word got back to Prorok, he would say that the traders had never made it to their rendez-vous point, likely another bust, perhaps destroyed by Voltron itself.

That wouldn’t happen, of course.

Because Thace was sending his own men out to meet them.

* * *

An alarm blared in their ship and Nyma looked at the controls, “ _ Shit,  _ the Lions are tailing us! We can’t outfly them – they’re too fast.”

“Good thing the Zolan Asteroid Belt is right up ahead,” Rolo said with a cocky smirk as he amped up their speed, “I know that like the back of my hand – you have any idea how many supply runs I’ve done through it?”

The Lions stopped as the ship darted into the asteroid belt, weaving in between the asteroids expertly.

“How is he  _ doing  _ that?” Pidge cried, “His ship is so bulky!”

“We can’t make it through this,” Shiro said.

“Maybe I can bust my way through,” Hunk suggested, flying into it, hping to just bash through the asteroids. But they were too dense, and after he managed to break through one, another one came and smacked him in the side, and he quickly escaped, “Okay, nevermind.”

“Keith, you’re the best flier with the most agile Lion,” Shiro said, “You flush them out and we’ll be waiting on the other side.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Keith said before flying in. He quickly followed Rolo’s path, but he flew very differently.

Rolo flew like a pilot who had been flying his entire life. The ship was an extension of his body, expertly weaving between the asteroids and avoiding any damage.

Keith was a bird, born to fly. The ship  _ was  _ his body, and instead of avoiding the asteroids, he ran along them, leapt between them, pushed off of them, wove in between them. 

“Damn,” Rolo admitted, watching Keith in a small holoscreen, “this guy can flat-out  _ fly. _ ”

“Focus, Rolo!” Nyma snapped.

“I am focused! Nyma, Beezer, start shooting!”

“On it!”

The two of them began to man the turrets and shot at Keith, but he dodged them easily,  _ still  _ weaving between all of the moving asteroids and gaining on them. If Rolo wasn’t so focused on getting them the fuck out of there, he would have been really impressed.

So he decided to test the kid’s mettle a little bit, seeing a particularly large asteroid and heading right for it. At the last second, he pulled up, skimming along it and sailing away. 

Keith grinned as his Lion’s claws dug into the asteroid, running up it as he summoned his mouth blade. When he reached the top of the asteroid and leapt off, the threw it at the ship, just nicking its side.

“Our weapons system is down!” Nyma called out.

“Shit, we gotta get out of here.” Rolo steered them out of the asteroid belt into open space, hoping to make a break for it, jump into hyperspace.

But they didn’t make it very far, because suddenly metal groaned as giant claws raked into the top of their ship, then the sound of jets roaring as the Red Lion – barely a fifth their ship’s size – stopped them dead in their tracks.

The others were waiting for them, because they quickly surrounded the ship, the Lions actually  _ growling,  _ heard even through the vacuum of space.

All three of them groaned as Rolo let his head hit the console in defeat.

“Ha!” Keith cheered as he and the others began to tow their ship back to the dwarf planet, “Hey Lance, you listening?”

“ _ Yeah. Still tied to a tree. Not much else to do _ .”

“Well I got your Lion back.”

“ _ Oh Keith that’s awesome! Now can you please come and untie me?” _

Keith grinned, “Oh, I’m sorry, what was that? Sorry, I can’t hear you.”

“ _ Keith! I know you can hear me! _ ”

“Oh, no, I think we’re breaking up!”

“ _ C’mon man, what about the bonding moment?” _

“So you  _ do _ remember!”

“ _...Aw, beans.” _

The three runaways had come out of their ship once they were placed back on the planet by the Lions. Hunk went off to get Lance while the other three landed and got out of their Lions to face the others.

“Well, thanks for not shooting us down,” Rolo said, a bit awkwardly, “We accept defeat. So, what now?”

“Your ship is actually broken now,” Shiro said, “but we’re definitely not going to help you. We’re not going to kill you though – you’re just going to have to wait until someone else comes along. Coran says this isn’t exactly a remote part of the galaxy, so you should be okay.”

“Really?” Nyma asked, “You’re going to let us live?”

“We’re not the Galra,” Pidge said, “we don’t just kill people.”

Keith snorted a bit (because Pidge had just killed someone within the week) but quickly turned it into a cough.

“We appreciate it,” Rolo said, “And...not that it matters much coming from us, but I do hope you defeat Zarkon. It’s nowhere near a good reason, but it’s a thousand lifetimes of war and suffering that has led to this, to  _ us. _ It needs to stop but...we’re not the ones who can stop it. I think y’all maybe have a shot at it.”

“Thanks,” Shiro said as they began to leave, “I hope someone comes along soon. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see you as part of the Voltron Coalition one day.”

Rolo smiled, “Maybe.”

They all turned and began to walk away, but Rolo caught Keith’s arm.

“What do you want?” He asked rudely as the others got in their Lions.

“Hey, no worries,” he said with that easy smile, “I just had to tell you, that was some of the best damn flying I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been flying my whole life.”

“Really?” Keith asked, a little bit hopeful.

“Hell yeah. It was like you  _ were  _ your ship, it was insane. I just had to let ya know.”

“Thanks,” Keith said, allowing himself a smile. He continued smiling all the way to the bridge, where they met up with the others.

“What happened to you?” Lance asked, rubbing his wrists, “You’re all red.”

“Nothing!” Keith snapped, but Shiro just gave him a knowing look.

“Okay great, glad we’re all here with the Lions,” Hunk said, “But can we  _ go? _ ”

* * *

Haggar watched the small lizard in its cage, scrabbling around. All of its companions had died in the earlier experiments, leaving this one the sole survivor.

Her own little champion.


End file.
